Two Worlds, One Mirror
by Thoughtful Tikal
Summary: When Nehelenia is given a second chance to plot revenge on Sailor Moon, she decides to take a different approach. Meanwhile Lita is depressed with her usual school issues, until a sweet and gentle rabbit takes all those bad feelings away.
1. Chapter 1

_**-Galaxia's Lair-**_

In her golden lair she sat in her throne, with her arms resting on each arm. Her gorgeous red eyes burned with anger, for there was a failed task that she felt shouldn't have ended so simply.

The individual of this given assignment appeared before her, in a long black dress, her head bent down in shame. Fearful of what her master was about to now do was still a mystery.

"So Nehelenia... it seems you couldn't rid of that pesky Sailor Moon and her friends for me. Am I correct?" The female in her golden throne spoke with demand.

Nehelenia couldn't think of any words to give but to throw all the blame on Super Sailor Moon.

"It's that brat Sailor Moon! If she were out of the picture, then I could -" the Dead Moon Queen's excuse was cut short when a bright whip zipped towards her and knocked her backwards.

"Aah!" Nehelenia gasped with shock. She just hadn't known what type of woman she was dealing with when she tried to get herself out of this situation.

"I don't have time for your silly little games, Nehelenia. Now you either go back and get rid of those annoying scouts, or would you like to be killed instead?" Sailor Galaxia gave a smirk as she raised her hand to steal Nehelenia's Star Seed. If ridding one of her henchmen was what was needed, then she didn't mind... but then again, there was something in which Nehelenia could be used for.

When Galaxia lowered her arm and ceased the shot, Queen Nehelenia wondered what had came over her angry leader.

"It seems I've decided to let you keep your life. There is one more option you have to use against Sailor Moon."

"And what might that be, my master?" Nehelenia responded, getting up from the floor to regain her exposure.

Instead of answering with words, Sailor Galaxia lifted one of her arms and summoned Nehelenia's dream mirror out of her body. The glass was black while the frame was gold, and Nehelenia couldn't see her reflection. The beautiful youth couldn't think of anything to say at this.

"In this mirror lies all of the hate and revenge you have for Sailor Moon."

Nehelenia kept her eyes on the mirror in hopes that her own reflection would appear soon, but suddenly a huge crack appeared in its middle.

The Dead Moon Queen let out a gasp then shifted her eyes towards Sailor Galaxia, who sat with only another small grin. Why was she purposefully breaking this mirror?

Before Nehelenia could force any words out of her mouth, she found herself in outer space above the big blue earth. Mixed with its greens, blues, and whites, the round planet looked so peaceful; so sheltered by those who were its heroes.

"Look down at that planet and notice how it looks. Didn't you use to want that entire area of life for yourself? Then what happened? You let two little girls and a silly horse stop you from that."

Nehelenia began to understand what this familiar voice was saying to her. She didn't dare miss the next things that were said, and abruptly her mirror reappeared before her.

"Break this mirror, and I will grant what you need to destroy Sailor Moon." Galaxia knew how badly the defeated Empress wanted her old life back, where circus folk were at her every command, and by her side she had her snail-like henchman to repeat her orders briefly. And the only thing that had terminated all of that was the despicable Serena and her future daughter Rini, along with the flying horse named Pegasus.

There was no backing down now when Sailor Galaxia had given her this special promise.

So without hesitation, she grabbed both sides of her mirror. Her facial expression shown a sign of revenge mixed with determination.

'You will die Sailor Moon, I promise you that!' The evil Queen thought to herself. She begun to bend the mirror in half, but it didn't break so quickly. From her realm, Galaxia watched with now a snicker on her face.

'Now those annoying scouts are going to wish they didn't interfere with my plans!' And soon Nehelenia's mirror made a crackling noise.

Unmoved by this, the Queen watched with cold eyes her Dream Mirror Shards pummeling down towards the Earth. The thought of Sailor Moon's death came to her mind, and she kept the image there. This time she couldn't fail, or else she really would have her Star Seed taken away.

* * *

_**-Eggman's Base-**_

Meanwhile, along the coast of an uncharted island, there lay a constructed base and in it was an mad scientist, and his two henchmen named Bocoe and Decoe, who instead of doing business were sitting around and playing a game of brains.

"Checkmate!" Decoe cried happily.

"What? How did you do that? We've been playing this game for not too long and already you've won!" In frustration, Bocoe took hold of the chess board and roughly flipped it sideways, causing one of the game pieces to fly and hit their leader in the nose.

The two robots start quarreling over the petty matter, and come to realize that there is a huge egg shaped body looming over them with anger.

"Will you two stop acting useless and help locate the chaos emeralds?"

"Y-yes, Doctor Eggman," replied Decoe and Bocoe in unison. Leaving the chess board and game pieces scattered, Eggman's assistant's returned to their mini computers and started punching in dozens of buttons and keys.

With a hint of relief, their creator let out a sigh and returned to his large chair.

Being afraid of the temperamental genius, Bocoe whispered over to Decoe about him.

"Do you think one of us should check on Dr. Eggman and see if he's fine?"

Decoe looked back at Dr. Eggman, but was returned a rude glare.

"Ummm, no! L-let's just leave him in peace."

"But Decoe -"

"Quiet you fools! Can't you see I've ran out of plans to use on Sonic? The hog's too pesky and everything I've tried ends in failure," Eggman yelled at his robots. Then Bocoe noticed his creator resting his head against one of his arms.

Deep down, Eggman was disappointed in himself that an intelligent genius such as himself was multiple times defeated by a over-confident hedgehog.

"Really, Doctor. You can't get yourself worked up over ONE good guy," Bocoe spoke up.

"But Bocoe," began Decoe with disagreement.

"Technically, it's also that little fox, Knuckles..." suddenly Decoe's mechanical eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait! I think you've figured it out, Bocoe. If that hedgehog has allies, then the Doctor should recruit some more villains." While remaining in his chair, Dr. Eggman raised his eyebrow with curiosity. Just what were these two idiots blabbering about?

"Doctor!"

"Hmm?" Eggman responded with a look towards mainly Decoe. The silver robot appeared anxious to speak with his leader.

"What if you weren't the only evil scientist who wanted world domination?"

"The only one? Ha!"At that instant, Dr. Eggman arose from his stool with one clenched fist raised.

"Who else thinks they can ever be as intelligent and powerful as me?" When Eggman asked this, both Decoe and Bocoe looked at each with nervous looks. Too bad for them Eggman's temper was easy to flip when they didn't even mean to.

"Well..." As Bocoe began, Eggman placed his stern expression directly on the stout robot. Just as afraid, Decoe remained by his side.

"Let's not say they're your equal...but instead, they're going after something more purposeful than defeating Sonic."

"What could be greater than world domination and finally putting an end to that pesky little hedgehog?" Eggman replied.

Before anyone could speak on this, a familiar tiny voice broke in.

"Doctor! Doctor! I got somethin' important to give you!"

"What is it, Bokkun? You realize I'm trying to talk here?" Eggman replied in an irritated voice.

The yellow-eyed creature was a little hurt by his leader's remark. But without further ado, he revealed to Doctor Eggman an envelope with a red sticker binding it's edge.

Dr. Eggman wondered just who this had came from. The evil genius had never been involved with mail situations.

"Is that letter for me...?" Eggman almost couldn't believe it as Bokkun was heading towards him with the written message. Bocoe and Decoe grew very suspicious of the sender. Was it an old relative of the Doctor's?

"Yep," Bokkun replied with a dreamy facial expression. It appeared to be that the pint messenger became infatuated with whoever gave him Dr. Eggman's mail.

Both Bocoe and Decoe noticed Bokkun's flushed face and became worried.

"Whoever this mysterious sender is must have Bokkun under a love spell," Decoe gave his guess.

When Eggman finally retrieved the letter from its envelope, he made a noise and raised both eyebrows in surprise.

"Hm?"

Bocoe and Decoe wanted to know the exact backgrounds of this mysterious sender, and why it made the Doctor respond with curiosity.

"What is it, Doctor?" asked Decoe as him and Bocoe stood on each side of Eggman.

The style of writing on the paper was in cursive form; and the letters were blood-red.

"This is the writing of a woman," explained their creator.

"A WOMAN?" Bocoe and Decoe asked in unison.

"If so, then what could her motive behind it be?" Mainly Bocoe moved his face closer to view the written paragraph. And when everyone finally began to read, it looked something like this:

_Salutations,_

_My name is Queen Nehelenia. From what my sources have told me, you are the most intelligent and powerful villain in the world. I'd like to become more acquainted with you, so come to Hang Castle and join me for a nice feast._

_Sincerely, Queen Nehelenia_

After reading this respectful letter, Eggman was left speechless. This mysterious Queen had become an interesting object to him.

Bocoe and Decoe realized their creator's expression.

"Well, Doctor. I think this Queen sounds like a great woman. You should accept her invitation," reasoned Bocoe.

But what neither the silver or gold robot thought about was the whole reason behind this sent letter.

"You and Decoe clearly aren't thinking straight." After Eggman gave this remark, he caused his henchmen including Bokkun to look at him.

"Don't you three find something suspicious about this letter? Why out of all people would she request this message be sent to me?"

"Because, Doctor, I told her about you," Bokkun responded in a cheerful tone.

There was silence after the black creature said this. When he looked at Eggman, the scientist's expression wasn't too peachy.

"You what?"

* * *

_**-Crossroads City-**_

Like any other weekday, girls and boys were inside their schools; except for one girl.

Her brown chestnut hair was kept inside a jade hair ornament, and her eyes were green like forest leaves. She was wearing an olive sleeved shirt, a red skirt that carried small slits on each side, and black flats for shoes.

As she paced down the street towards the cross walk, the sound of an automobile came her way. The person driving the vehicle slowed down to come in contact with the girl. He had short black hair and cerulean eyes.

"Darien," the girl was surprised by this unexpected appearance.

"Hey, Lita. Aren't you supposed to be in school?" asked Darien, getting off his motorcycle.

"Aren't you supposed to be at college?" The girl named Lita retorted with this comeback.

Still impressed by her remark, Darien took off his helmet and held it against his hip. He wasn't acquainted with the idea that Lita would simply bring up his business like she did.

"Well, if you must know, I didn't get accepted." By the serious tone in his voice, Lita knew she hit a nerve. The brunette and her friends were so enthusiastic over Darien's entering college. But now Darien had no choice but to work part-time at the Crown Game Arcade with his best friend, Andrew. As of now, Lita was unaware of this.

Darien grew surprised when he noticed Lita turning away from him.

'I shouldn't have said anything. Now he probably feels even more depressed.' Lita placed her hand to her chest while gifting herself with blame.

"Hey, Darien. There's somewhere I have to go, so... see you later!" Lita turned around and spoke; a fake smile was plastered on her face.

This sudden expression was fishy to Darien. He knew after their current talk, that Lita wasn't automatically alright.

"Alright, then. See you later too." Rather than let Lita see his concern, Darien watched Lita walk away and replied while waving his hand. Then he put on his helmet, got on his motorcycle, then drove off in the direction he came.

* * *

**_-Entrance to Crossroads Garden-_**

Not only the set of flowers and other plants looked extremely beautiful, but everything for Lita used to be so fine and dandy; until she got suspended for fighting before school even began.

Deep down, no one understood here but her friends. Lita wasn't just the huge bully that others made her out to be: Before she met Serena, Lita DID cause most of her violent matters, except now she became more laid-back with friends to talk to.

'Can't I go to one school without getting in trouble? This was supposed to be my first year as freshman. The others are probably having a blast in their classes right now,' Lita thought to herself.

As the brunette was heading towards the flowers, she placed both hands behind her head. Thinking about her troubles made Lita want to cry. To her the suspension and the way she offended Darien were very unlike her.

Soon Lita made her way towards a giant shack made of glass with more flowers and plant pots. These flowers ranged from sunflowers, petunias, daisies, tulips, daffodils, and lesser roses because those flowers carried the shortest life span. Eventually after these red petals of love died, they were replaced with new ones once a week.

'Maybe these flowers will cheer me up.' Usually Lita would view this nature scenery in awe, but today she acted with only a tiny smile.

While the young girl walked to and fro down the aisle, a pair of cute brown eyes along with a set of tiny blue ones peeked at her through a flower shelf. They paid close attention as Lita took a few moments glancing at different flower pots.

'Ah. So they still have my favorite in here,' Lita remarked, gazing at a bright orange lily inside a pink flower pot.

Noticing what she was looking at, the caramel-eyed character named Cream also took joy in the orange lily's beauty.

"Wow! That flower IS pretty."

"Chao chao!" The chao planned to keep their voice to a whisper, but unfortunately its volume was picked up.

"Huh? Where did that small noise come from?" Lita took her eyes away from the lily and studied her area.

"Cheese!" Cream hushed the baby chao.

Still searching for that tiny voice, Lita walked down the aisle, unaware that she was moving away from the source.

"Hmm." Lita had crossed her arms and formed a puzzled face.

"Phew," Cream and Cheese spoke in unison. They were afraid of what might happen if a human in another city noticed them.

With Lita already looking for them, Cream decided it was time to leave, so she picked up her blue friend.

"Cheese," the orange rabbit began as she backed away from the flowers.

"I think its time we-" As soon as Cream turned her sight to the aisle, she noticed a human with long hair and green eyes.

"Oh no!" Without thinking, Cream quickly ran in the other direction away from the girl.

"Chao!" Cheese fully agreed with the rabbit's idea of escape.

"Wait!" Both surprised and curious, Lita ran after these two children. Luna and Artemis with their talking ability was the most she had seen. This now was at least 3 levels higher in mystery.

Cream didn't bother to look back or change her direction, so she stayed in the middle of the aisle row until hopefully finding a door. By now she had passed 3 shelves.

"Come back! I just wanna know who you are!" Lita could sense the fear in the little rabbit's heart. It almost reminded her of how she acted when she was the real bully; who picked on the nerds and other weak people. But why did that return to her mind all of a sudden?

Lita's words didn't affect Cream at all because this is what everyone had told her; back in Station Square most humans never let Cream have peace when her and Cheese went to the toy store, park, or even amusement park. It was too much for someone young like her, which was why she didn't visit Amy much and stayed with her mother more often.

As Lita kept up after Cream, she suddenly felt her foot trip over something, and face first she fell to the ground. It was a stone tile that had been placed into the ground wrongly.

Even from where they were, Cream and Cheese heard the thud. Figuring that it was Lita, they turned around and noticed the brunette lying on the ground.

'Can this day get any worse?' As Lita picked herself up from the ground, she noticed a concerned rabbit and blue creature one foot away from her.

"Are you ok, miss?" Cream looked at Lita.

When Lita noticed the softness in this rabbit's tone, her nerves slightly calmed down. Lita couldn't help but admire the fact that Cream called Lita by a proper name.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But who are you two?" Lita responded. The teenager still noticed fear in Cream's and Cheese's face. It wasn't easy for them to act responsively. The reason had to be from what entered Lita's mind.

"I guess I look like a bully to you two. Sorry for the chase," Lita looked away sadly.

"No. You don't look like a bully at all," Cream took a few steps towards the brunette.

As soon as Lita heard these words, she knelt down to be level with Cream.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You look like a really nice person," Cream spoke with a friendly tone. Then Cheese finally gave some words.

"Chao!"

"You can talk too, little guy?" Lita smiled sweetly and grabbed its little hand.

In response, Cheese accepted the handshake while Cream smiled at this cute meeting. This was the most adorable creature Lita had ever met, along with Cream.

"So, what's your name, miss?"

"I'm Lita. And who are you two?"

"Lita? That's a pretty name," Cream smiled as she formed a handshake with the brunette.

"Ohh, well thank you," a sweat drop formed on her face. Lita didn't think there were anyone this nice and sweet except for Rini or Michelle.

"Your welcome. My name's Cream, and this is Cheese."

"Oh. Well, I like your names too," Lita replied.

* * *

By now the three new friends reached the outside of the garden and decided to take a flower tour together. If Cream didn't know the name to a flower, Lita gave her an explanation.

"We like this one. But what is it called?" Cream pointed at a small yellow flower.

"Oh, that one? That's called a Mallow," Lita began her explanation.

"It has other names too, like Chinese Bell Flower, Chinese Lantern, and even Flowering Maple."

"That's awesome how you know the flower's nicknames," Cream replied, as her and Cheese moved towards the Mallow.

"Chao chao!" Cheese took a similar emotion.

When the small rabbit took hint of its lovely scent, she grew happy.

"And it smells pretty, too."

Lita gave a smile and took in account Cream's remark. She herself had smelled scents of a few flowers in this garden.

"Well, you can't open up a flower shop without a little flower knowledge."

Suddenly Lita noticed the eyes of both Cream and Cheese gleaming with sheer excitement.

"You mean you plan on opening up your very own flower shop?" Cream couldn't explain how much love she had for flowers.

Lita was surprised to see someone so ecstatic over her dream; Serena and the other girls of course were happy for her, but Cream's reaction was more interested.

"Yeah." Lita saw that she had the strings that tied to Cream's puppet of interest in her floral career.

"Along with a candy shop and bakery."

This was an extremely happy moment for Cream and her chao. There wasn't anyone else they knew who liked flowers as much as Lita.

Seeing the same shine in their eyes brought a smile Lita's face.

"That's really great, Lita! When you do those things, can Cheese and I come and see it?"

Thanks to her new friends, Lita almost couldn't remember why she was so depressed. There wasn't a reason to stay sad and angry when she just met those who made her smile. Lita never wanted these expressions to go away.

"Of course you two can come."

"Cream!" a voice came from the Crossroads Garden entrance.

"Oh! It's Amy. Come on, Lita. I want you to meet one of our friends," Cream deliberately grabbed Lita's hand and led her towards the pink hedgehog.

"Alright," Lita followed the rabbit.

The same voice was getting closer.

"Cream! Cheese!" In surprise Amy finally noticed her best friends pacing towards her. They both appeared happy.

"Well there you guys are. Did you have fun looking at the flowers?"

"Yeah, Amy. But there's a friend we want you to meet."

"Really? Where are they?" Amy replied with a curious tone.

Shortly after, Amy noticed a tall girl with brown hair and green eyes.

"Oh. So you're Cream's friend?"

"Yeah," answered Lita.

"My names Lita. It's nice to meet you."

"Well its nice to meet you too. I'm Amy," the hedgehog smiled back up at Lita.

"So, are you and Cheese ready to go home?" When Lita heard these words, she grew a little worried.

"Aww, already?" Cream gave a small complaint along with Cheese.

"Yeah. You're mom called me saying to take you guys back early because she's throwing a party for Big."

Lita wondered who this new character was while listening.

"Ohh, that's right!" Cream's memory was regained.

Big's birthday is tomorrow. I promised mother that me and Cheese would help decorate the house."

With this said, Cream turned to Lita and looked up at her.

"I hope you're not mad at us for leaving so soon, Lita."

"Oh, it's no problem really," Lita assured the rabbit child. It was true Lita didn't mind for the unexpected takeoff, but when would she see her new friends again?

"Have fun setting up your friend's birthday party."

"Ok!" Cream nodded at the brunette.

And so after exchanging their goodbyes, Lita headed back down the sidewalk and towards the Hikawa Shrine. Even if she had been banned from high school for one more week, she still had something to share with her buddies.


	2. Chapter 2

**_-Crossroads Beach-_**

At this time civilians were still relaxing along the sandy coast. Groups of children teamed up to construct sand castles with their colorful toy buckets, older youths chose to either sit under their large umbrellas or walk along the seashore to share a conversation, and adults remained lying on beach towels to rest from their long working hours. What better to do than take a break at the sunny, exotic beach?

The minds of each individual hanging along the sandy area were carefree and didn't bother to bring negative energy towards themselves.

At the bottom of the deep blue ocean lay a pink clam. It's edges appeared to be dull and covered in green moss, as if it were an ancient item untouched for the past hundred years.

Times of the clam revealing it's inside were extremely rare. However when the sea mussel did show its inner self, anyone who acted quick enough to gaze at it would see an object of pure beauty and extreme value: a precious white pearl, rounded perfectly and formed with a special gleam.

Usually the role of this gorgeous treasure was for being discovered by humans and traded for cash. But now, with a mysterious mirror shard sinking towards its protector, the clam simply closed its shell with the mirror shard now inside.

Suddenly the sea mussel's exterior color turned into a more dark color.

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Inside the kitchen of this traditional shrine were two friends: a echidna known as Knuckles, scrubbing the floors, and a hedgehog named Sonic, who was busy wiping the room's glass windows. Neither of them liked their jobs, and wished they could reverse time; but Sonic began to accept the idea. He knew their new duties had to be taken seriously, but Knuckles wouldn't move past it.

"How did I end up as a 'Trainee Shinto Priest'..." the tempered echidna mocked his job title.

"...and with YOU of all people?" So it seemed at the moment Knuckles wasn't liking his blue pal.

But Sonic wasn't in the mood for arguing. Truthfully he didn't like this new job they were given. The young hedgehog would give anything to be back outside in the open and explore the world's wonders to his heart's content.

"If you hadn't decided to bring our fight into this city, we wouldn't be here cleaning someone's kitchen," Knuckles continued his angry ranting.

"You broke their gate, Knuckle-head." Sonic simplified his point.

At that moment, the hedgehog began to remember that incident from the day before; exactly why the blame belonged to Knuckles and no one else...

* * *

**_-Flashback-_**

Even with his supersonic speed, Knuckles picked up his feet the fastest he could and ran after his blue-furred rival. Today would be his victory.

The group of tall pine trees didn't hold any matter in this high speed chase; that is until Sonic looked back and noticed them collapse from their planted spots and fall towards him. A confident smirk appeared on the hedgehog's face as he hurried down the grassy hill with several logs rolling after him.

"You're gonna have to do a lot better than that to get me, Knuckles!"

Soon hedgehog and echidna made their way past the trees, and unto the open green plains. Now Knuckles had no plan of attack to use rather than his own usual spiked gloves.

"Shut up!" The echidna's frustration became crystal clear.

As Sonic continued on with blue light trailing behind him, he took himself into the border of what was called 'Crossroads City'. Its building scenery didn't appear too much different from Station Square; but that didn't rid Sonic of his curiosity for it.

It didn't matter to Knuckles where they fought; as long as he could proclaim having victory over the pesky blue hedgehog.

Civilians who were on the sidewalks and inside of buildings noticed this rivaled chase and gawked in awe. Children who were standing by their parents weren't given responses because even the adults were unsure about this situation. Unlike Station Square, Crossroads City had never met their share of heroes; which was totally ironic.

Sonic suddenly noticed a red convertible come his way from the opposite street, but the hedgehog didn't let that bother him.

As the rimmed wheels on the car kept rolling, the vehicle's female driver noticed a blue blur zipping towards her. It seemed almost unreal for this to occur.

"Wha-?" These were the only words of utter disbelief the woman could push out.

When the mysterious blur passed her car, she turned her head and looked back at what was now streaks of blue fading away.

Sonic knew what he had done. Soon all the humans in this town would be chasing after the blue hedgehog with wonder in their minds.

"You're not getting away so quick, Sonic! This time I have a card up my sleeve!"

Sonic thought over what this special card of Knuckles's could possibly be. It couldn't be anything unworthy of using because this was the echidna's first time ever mentioning this. Well, whatever Knuckles's idea was, Sonic would be prepared to counter-attack it.

Only from time to time would Sonic make a left or right turn on the streets, but this didn't bring Knuckles hesitation.

Realizing just how caught up the persistent echidna was to him, Sonic decided to keep up his quick change of direction.

Right, then left. Left, then right. And without surprise, this playful act fumed Knuckles.

He began to grit his teeth and clench his gloved fists; all while he was still running after his blue rival.

"I've had it! Stop this constant turning and pick a place to fight!" The echidna hollered while shaking his fist wildly.

Eventually Sonic would give the temperamental Knuckles what he wanted; if anyone knew, they'd remember just how much Sonic differentiated from Knuckles and always managed to irritate the echidna with his carefree attitude. It was never Sonic's full intention to start their battle, but he'd never back down from his strength-based opponent either.

After twisting through three more streets, Sonic chose the upward street and found himself dashing towards a long staircase. It seemed endless, but no more than two seconds passed by when the hedgehog reached the top.

Where Sonic found himself appeared to a peaceful and serene looking shrine, leaving him in wondrous awe. The exterior colors of the large Japanese-styled home were brown, red and white. The entire shrine's beauty came from the multiple trees that contained sprouted cherry blossoms.

Sonic knew for a fact which of his friends would enjoy the tiny pink flowers, but now wasn't the time to dwell on that thought.

"So, this is where you wanna fight, huh?" This familiar voice caused Sonic to turn around. His opponent was carrying a confident grin on his peach muzzle.

"Well fine by me. It's time we finally put this to an end!" Knuckles narrowed his deep purple eyes towards Sonic and got into his battle stance.

"Funny. I was thinking the exact same thing," Sonic smirked as he put his fists up.

With the oldest cherry blossoms loosening from their branches, a sudden wind kicked up and swayed the bright petals towards Sonic and his rival. It created a sort of cinematic effect; heroes in an old Japanese action movie, fighting over the honor of holding victory over each other.

Knuckles left on his same expression while a smirk remained on Sonic's lips. Now was the time that they'd finally settle the score with each other.

The next few moments stayed silent as hedgehog and echidna waited for each other to move. Sonic was well aware of Knuckles's super strength, but he decided to let the red fighter show his so called 'card up his sleeve'.

'So... he'd rather let me make the first hit...? Well that doesn't change anything at all.' Knuckles began to take off his white gloves. After Sonic watched the echidna toss his attire aside, he looked back at Knuckles and noticed something unusual. Underneath his trademark gloves were an identical pair, but colored yellow.

"You're probably wondering what these are," Knuckles began to brag.

"With these on, I can unleash my 'Maximum Heat Knuckles Attack'." After the echidna gave this explanation, a strange red aura began to glow around his entire body. Knuckles closed his eyes and relaxed his muscles in order to focus on his target.

Sonic remained in his same spot while this was all taking place; oddly enough Knuckles's shown ability wasn't much surprise, and the echidna noticed this. Why did Sonic have to act so carefree all of the time?

"Actually I'm not all that blown away because I learned a trick like that myself," Sonic spoke in a serious tone while his arms were folded. This left Knuckles completely speechless.

"A trick? What does he mean by that?" It always seemed like when Knuckles discovered a new ability in himself, Sonic was equally skilled with him.

'Could he just be trying to put fear in me?' Just how Knuckles would finally claim his title as 'stronger than Sonic' almost became Knuckles's hugest worry.

"Well... like that would ever happen," the headstrong echidna muttered under his breath.

Soon more crimson energy gathered amidst Knuckles's body. Now was his chance to finally prove himself as being more powerful than the fastest thing alive.

Knuckles couldn't help but smirk as his attack power was almost supplied.

"I hope you're ready to admit defeat!" After three seconds barely passed, Knuckles ran full speed at Sonic with his left arm extended; his entire fist was engulfed in his heated energy. This would be the hand that punched Sonic in less than 2 seconds. That's how much speed Knuckles had mastered to put into his 'Maximum Heat Knuckles Attack'.

When his large yellow fist headed towards Sonic's tan chest, Knuckles could feel his speed increasing. So if this happened, why didn't his clenched hand come in absolute contact with the hedgehog's body? How many inches could the echidna possibly been off by?

"Over here!" Sonic's voice came from Knuckles's left.

When his presence was discovered, Knuckles grew angry. "Get down from there and fight like a man!" The echidna leaped from where he was standing and flew at Sonic with his same fist clenched. Now he was performing his special 'Uppercut'; known to be strong enough to pierce armor.

As Knuckles was approaching his rival, ribbons of auburn energy formed around his yellow glove. But for the second time, his fist hadn't came in contact with Sonic's not bruised body. So why could the collapsing of stone could be heard?

While Sonic was in midair after hopping from the top of the shrine gate, Knuckles remained floating past the hedgehog with his curled glove. 2 more seconds, and the echidna could have finally landed a hit on his opponent.

"I was so close that time!" Knuckles growled in disappointment as he looked back at Sonic.

The echidna landed on the ground, then turned around and found his opponent standing in the middle of the stone walkway. Sonic was ready for whatever Knuckles decided to dish out on him.

"Think ya still got what it takes, Knuckles?"

"Of course I do! That last attack was just a warm up," Knuckles acted boastful. He couldn't let his last mistakes bring him down.

"Then I guess it's time I show ya my trick then!"

Knuckles became more alert when he heard these words. Just what was Sonic planning to use against him? "Alright, then. Ready whenever you are!" Knuckles declared as his same red aura appeared around him.

While charging his second attack, he noticed Sonic transform into a ball and begin to spin. This technique was normally used whenever Sonic attacked, but this time the echidna was awestruck.

White orbs of pure light appeared around Sonic and they started to glow like stars. Where had the Speed-Type hedgehog learned this mysterious technique?

"Those orbs must be where he's getting his energy from." Knuckles paid close attention to his opponent. "I have to put everything I got into this next punch." The echidna decided as he closed his eyes and let the same auburn aura brighten up. If it took all of his strength to overcome Sonic, that's just what Knuckles would do. There weren't many other options he had.

As Sonic's speed began to increase, and Knuckles's power had reached its peak, the time to attack was decided. Both hedgehog and echidna were pumped up for what felt like their final showdown; the battle that would determine everything.

"Sonic the Hedgehog... prepare to finally lose!" Knuckles made his battle cry as he lunged towards the blue hero with his fist. A more brighter and hotter aura covered his yellow glove.

Suddenly the white orbs among Sonic disappeared, and he came pummeling at Knuckles; his entire body encased in neon blue energy.

The minute their attacks collided, an explosion mixed with bright reds and blues would occur. But unknown to Sonic and Knuckles, two slips of white paper sped towards them and ended up on both their sides. They were known as Ofuda, wards written with a unique phrase that read 'Akuryo Taisan' (Evil Spirit Disperse).

And these were the last moments that either Sonic or Knuckles remembered before falling into deep unconsciousness.

* * *

"Sonic! Knuckles!" A girl with raven black hair and purple eyes, dressed in priestess uniform slid the kitchen door open and stepped in.

"Oh." This entrance had woke Sonic up from his flashback.

"Hey, Rei! What's up?"

Rei didn't seem neither touched nor phased by the hedgehog's friendly smile.

Meanwhile Knuckles remained silent and returned to cleaning the floor.

"I'm having some friends come over today, so you and Knuckles should take a break from cleaning."

Sonic and Knuckles glanced at each other blankly. This was the first time since their arrival of hearing about a small vacation since they were punished in becoming Trainees.

"You mean, we're really free to go?" There was a hint of disbelief in Sonic's tone.

"Yeah, but not for too long because grandpa might grow suspicious after about 5 hours," Rei explained. This was luckily true for her to share since Grandpa Hino didn't keep his prescription glasses on his face. And he didn't assume their Trainees would leave from their posts, since the strict elder put huge trust in Rei.

"Well, I'm out," Knuckles dropped his sponge and jetted out of the room.

As for Sonic, he couldn't help but worry about Rei. Why was she so persistent of making them leave? Sonic and his friends had been seen by humans in THEIR hometown.

"Wait, Knuckles!" As Sonic ran after the hasty echidna, he turned his head back once to look at the front of their new home. Something was definitely wrong with its priestess.

After they were out of the area, Rei picked up their sponge and towel, then placed them on the kitchen counter. "Now that they're both gone, I can feel less secretive." Rei exited the kitchen and closed its door behind her.

* * *

**-Entrance to Hikawa Shrine-**

Up until now, her day had been far from what she expected; to think missing one day of school would ruin her. But thanks to the arrival of Cream and Cheese, things became calmer. But sharing with her friends about the the rabbit and chao wouldn't be so easy.

This complication stuck with Lita as she made her way up the steps towards the Hikawa Shrine entrance. Even with the extremely long set of stairs, Lita didn't have enough time to think of a logical explanation. Would it be so simple to say since they knew Luna and Artemis could speak?

"How exactly am I supposed to tell the others about Cream?" Lita tried t hinking up an example to use. "Guess what you guys? While you were all at school, I met a talking rabbit." It seemed like it would sound better than THIS statement to keep her friends from freaking out. "When you guys were at school, I bumped into a little girl who just happens to be a rabbit." This explanation only sounded worse than the first try.

"No, no no. None of that will sound right," Lita let out a defeated sigh. It was no use; she couldn't twist or change anything about Cream and Cheese. Her pals would just have to deal with meeting them if they wanted to know about Lita's day.

Now Lita had reached the top of the stairs, and was making her way towards Rei's front door until she noticed an unusual scene.

"What could've happened here?" Lita noticed the middle of the shrine's gate broken, with it's pillars still standing. The brunette would remember to bring this up in her conversation with her friends; nothing like this had ever occurred before. So with that placed in her mind, Lita continued on up the set of stone stairs and towards Rei's house. She could feel the pressure about Cream returning to her body. "Well... here I go!" And so without hesitation, Lita slid open the door and found at her friends sitting around the usual wooden table, while the Moon Cats were on the bed.

"Lita!" Each of Lita's friends cried in unison. Their eyes gleamed with excitement for the arrival of their friend.

To the brunette's surprise, Lita found herself wrapped in the arms of Serena and Rini. She was dearly missed, by all her friends including Luna and Artemis, except Serena and Rini were acting more emotional.

"Come on, you two," Lita kindly urged her two pals to release her from the long embrace.

"Now, can someone tell me why the gate outside is broken?" As Serena and Rini let their friend go and returned to their spots, everyone including them turned their eyes towards Rei. The shrine gate's appearance HAD caught their attention as they walked towards the long stair case.

Thinking back to the cause of it all made Rei irritated.

"If I tell you guys what happen, promise that you'll believe every word I say."

"Ok," Ami responded in an assuring tone.

"Start from the beginning."

Before sharing the outrageous story with her closest friends, Rei took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. She wasn't sure how everyone would react.

"Well... two days ago, while I was busy fire reading, I suddenly heard a fight going on outside. So I stopped what I was doing to go check it out. When I got outside, I saw these two creatures staring at each other. One was red and the other was blue. I wasn't sure what they were or where they came from. But I saw that they had destroyed our gate, so I knew they couldn't be peaceful. Then suddenly they went towards each other like rockets, so I used that time to put a stop to their fight."

So far the priestess's friends showed awestruck reactions like she figured they would. But the story wasn't finished there.

"So then I brought them inside and told my grandpa the whole story. And he decided that they'd both work in our temple to pay off the gate's damages."

"So they've been here for the past few days and you kept it secret?" Artemis began questioning Rei.

Now was the moment Rei could feel her guilt. From the beginning, she wasn't sure how to bring this news to her friends, but now she didn't have a choice. They all grew extremely curious.

"Yeah... I probably should have told you all about them sooner, but I wasn't exactly sure how to put it all together," Rei began her apologetic response.

"As I threw my wards at them, I suspected them to be evil. But once the wards stuck on to them, it didn't have any effect except leave them unconscious."

After these words were spoken, everyone pondered on it. There was only one other side they could be from: the good guys. It was this logical idea Ami and Luna thought about the most.

"If that's true, then we should get to know them better," Ami said.

"Ami's right. If these two aren't allied with any evil forces, then there's a chance we can form a neutrality with them." Luna agreed with the blue-haired girl.

"Did you happen to catch their names before they left?" Mina asked Rei.

Rei didn't straight out know this' she had to search deep inside of her mind.

"Wait. I did, and they told me what their species was too," Rei answered with clarity.

So Lita wasn't the only one who had met an interesting group of people. Grasping this realization began to ease her mind and remove her nervousness.

"So tell us what they said," Serena said to Rei.

"The blue one's name is Sonic, and he's a hedgehog." Everyone, mainly Lita, grew interested.

'I wonder if Cream knows this 'Sonic' guy?' Lita thought to herself.

"And the red one's name is Knuckles. He's what's called an echidna," Rei finished her explanation.

"A hedgehog and echidna?" Rini broke into the conversation with a confused expression.

"I never even knew either of those existed."

"The ones Rei's talking about must both be anthropomorphic," Ami shared this fact with her friends. Luna and Artemis were the only ones who didn't give a puzzled look at Ami. Being the only genius in the group was unique for Ami.

"Anthro-what?" Serena couldn't give the correct pronunciation.

"Anthropomorphic. That means they carry human characteristics like us. They can walk, talk, and even experience the same emotions and feelings we have."

"So they're almost like Luna and Artemis? That sounds cool!" Rini didn't mind how hedgehog and echidna sounded anymore. She wanted to meet whoever these two were, and so did everyone else.

The idea of if Cream knowing these humanoid characters remained in Lita's mind.

"So it's settled then. Once they come back, we'll introduce ourselves to them," Luna concluded the discussion.

"Wait. If I could say something," Mina politely interrupted the cat mentor's statement. Thanks to their meeting, the blond suddenly remembered an event that she had meant to share with her friends.

"After school yesterday when I decided to go to the mall, I walked into this fashion store and saw a pink girl trying on a blue dress."

The idea of more hedgehogs and echidnas running around Crossroads City stumped Luna. They certainly couldn't waste any time with investigating this situation.

"Really...?" Ami was the first to react.

"What did they look like?"

"They had these pointed ears," Mina demonstrated by forming ears on her head with her fingers.

"And a short tail... then a muzzle for their mouth... oh, and green eyes too." Mina luckily remembered the last detail.

It wasn't important, but Rei remembered seeing Sonic with the same emerald-colored eyes. Could him and this pink girl be related somehow?

"Maybe that girl you saw could be related to Sonic," Rei made her point.

"Yes. And so I guess we should try meeting her also," added Artemis.

"Now that you mention that, Mina, I also remember seeing a figure like that," Ami informed the blond. Just how many more of these humanoids were there? It made Luna worry just what they would soon be acquainted with.

"You're kidding." Even Serena begun having the same thoughts like her mentor; Lita kept herself silent with these similar feelings.

"When I was riding the public bus on my way home, I looked outside my window and saw something flying through the air, with two tails propelling it," Ami gave her story.

"Well, what did it look like?" Artemis was almost afraid to ask and receive the response.

Sonic and Knuckles would have to give Rei a huge explanation when they got back; that was what Rei herself thought about at this moment.

"Since it was far away, I couldn't really tell. But its features looked like fox ears."

"Aha! So it's a fox this time!" Rini wondered out loud.

"I wonder if there's anymore different species."

"What I wanna know is why they've came here," Serena threw in her opinion. Then the odango-haired girl noticed too much silence from the brunette sitting beside her.

"Lita... you haven't spoken a word since you asked about Rei's gate."

Lita could feel those same pressured feelings from before. Her other friends had already gave their sides to the discussion topic, and whether she liked it or not it was her turn.

"Yeah," stepped in Rei.

It wasn't difficult to find out what the priestess would say next.

"So did you happen to meet a hedgehog, echidna, or fox, Lita?"

Suddenly the nervousness inside Lita began to build up like a tall building. She wanted a few more minutes before exposing her hidden words; then again her telling about Cream and Cheese couldn't be that terrible.

Before she parted her lips, Lita copied Rei by inhaling and exhaling. What she was about to say wasn't simple.

"Well.."Lita started to fidget with her hair.

"To be honest..." Her fingers never stopped twirling her brown locks. All eyes were pinpointed directly on her nervous green ones. Before these next words, Lita gulped.

"While you were all at school... I met a..." Neither of Lita's friends hesitated to miss this next phrase. The more they stared, the more afraid Lita became.

"A rabbit!" After pushing out these last words, Lita had finally gotten all the pressure and nervousness off her chest. Now they could move on and hopefully she could hear how her friends' day went at school.

But to her surprise, all the girls including Luna and Artemis collapsed anime-style.

At this moment, Lita could only put on an uneasy smile while a sweat drop shone on her head. With hedgehogs, echidnas, and foxes already bringing shock and surprise, it seemed rabbits had topped the cake of these mysterious anthropomorphic beings.


	3. Chapter 3

_**-Open Green Plains-**_

Only two hours had passed since Sonic and Knuckles were away from the Hikawa Shrine, but that didn't stop the bright sun from lowering towards the horizon, and the misty cerulean skies changing into a series of rich warm hues. Truthfully, Knuckles couldn't have been any more glad to be away from that prison called 'Rei's house'.

Now the relieved echidna was sitting under a leafy tree oak, thinking about his earlier duel with Sonic. Knuckles had difficulty figuring out just what ability Sonic performed against him.

'I've never seen Sonic do anything like that before... where could he have learned that technique from?' the scarlet fighter remembered just how intense the white orbs around his azure opponent were. There had to be a logical explanation.

"Hey, Knuckles. So sitting under a tree is your way of taking a break?" A pair of beryl-colored eyes and usual smirk appeared before Knuckles.

When he realized who this character was, Knuckles quickly rose from the ground and responded with a calm tone.

"There was something on my mind, so I just sat here to think it through," the Emerald Guardian folded his arms, "Besides, what about you? You don't look like you're having any fun with this."

After Knuckles spoke these words, a swift breeze emerged. Every grass blade along the earth swayed in this new wind's direction, along with Sonic's furred quills and Knuckles's crimson dreadlocks following its gusty path. Not to mention the couple of greenish-brown leaves descending from their branches, then scattering freely into the air; autumn was near.

"Actually, there was something I realized when I was taking a jog just now."

Knuckles became curious when his friend gave these words.

"And what's that?" More anticipation towered inside Knuckles when he waited patiently for Sonic's answer.

"Now that we're stuck as Trainees for Rei's temple, we might as well try to make peace with her and Grandpa Hino."

Before responding to this legitimate idea, Knuckles gave it some thought.

"Only if that girl accepts it," Knuckles placed both arms behind his head and closed his eyes at the thought of Rei's emotionless behavior. Hadn't her actions in rushing them out of her home been enough proof?

"She doesn't even seem friendly," Knuckles continued honestly.

Sonic couldn't say the echidna's remark was false; the kind hedgehog thought back to when he tried greeting Rei inside her kitchen. The priestess's face appeared so normal and bland; as if the sight of newborn babies or floral scenery couldn't even make her smile.

"Yeah... you're definitely right about that," Sonic mentioned in a low tone.

"Then what's your plan?" Whatever his friend's idea of forming a truce with Rei was, Knuckles was absolutely for it. It was the least the violet-eyed teen could want since him and Sonic's time at the Hikawa Shrine was unknown.

Before Knuckles used more time to dwell on this situation, he noticed Sonic pull out a slip of paper from behind his back.

The blue hedgehog knew his pal would figure out this idea as he stared at the green-colored object.

"Where'd you get that from?" Knuckles exclaimed with astonishment.

"Just before I came back, I took a dash through the city and found this on the edge of the sidewalk," Sonic looked down at the 10 dollar bill in his white hand. This form of money wasn't new to him, but this was his first time ever possessing it. The facial image printed in its center remained anonymous to him.

And so things became simplified for Knuckles. This was just another one of those days Sonic followed his own way.

"So just what do you plan on buying with that?"

"I don't know. Whatever Rei likes I guess," Sonic answered with a shrug.

At this point Knuckles was baffled. Sonic had come upon the one thing they were both working for, and now he was gonna waste it on some gift; for someone who probably wouldn't except it with sincerity.

"Wanna come with me, Knuckles? Maybe you can help me decide what to get for her."

"Did you pass out while running?" This was all Knuckles could think of for Sonic's odd behavior.

"The whole reason we're working for that girl and her grandpa is to pay them back. Buying some gift is just going to make things worse."

It appeared as though Sonic wasn't comprehending the truth in this response, but like it or not Knuckles had a fear of the hedgehog getting this present for Rei; once she and her grandfather noticed the purchase, they'd most likely confront them for more dollars, which they didn't have. And if that weren't troublesome enough, their stay at the Hikawa Shrine would probably lessen if Sonic put in his money; but Knuckles sensed his determination.

Sonic remained quiet as he stared at his dollar, thinking over Knuckles's statement. The echidna's reasoning made sense, but chances of Rei's positive reaction were still plausible.

"Sonic! Are you listening?" Knuckles interrupted the azure boy's thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you," Sonic shifted his green eyes towards Knuckles.

"But it doesn't hurt to try."

Now there was surely no hope in trying to convince Sonic otherwise; Knuckles had been defeated for the second time in one day, but in a verbal manner.

Rather than speak with his true emotions, Knuckles let out a sigh and closed his pupils once more.

"Fine. But don't expect me to support you."

Just as Sonic finalized his decision, the Emerald Guardian wouldn't change his mind either.

Even with the air still blowing and the oldest leaves dancing in the wind, Sonic felt a unnecessary dissension between Knuckles and himself. This wasn't the exact path he'd decided to start. Anyone besides the royal blue hedgehog knew about Knuckles's stubborn characteristic.

This time when Sonic glanced at Knuckles, his emerald orbs consisted of confidence and devotion.

"C'mon, Knuckles. You're expected back with me anyways," Sonic began to walk away from the tree.

Likewise to Sonic, Knuckles remember the hedgehog's friendly and loyal attitude.

"Alright. Let's get this over with," Knuckles arose from the grass and followed after Sonic.

* * *

_**-Outside Entrance to Hang Castle-**_

After 2 hours of quarreling with Bokkun and his robotic henchmen, Eggman decided to meet this Queen Nehelenia, only because he remained suspicious of her motives. Bocoe and Docoe were anxious meet the sender of their creator's letter. Still they couldn't help but wonder about Bokkun's likes of the Dead Moon Empress.

Oddly enough, Hang Castle was enshrouded in twilight, canceling out the pearly white moon and golden sun.

"Land the ship right here," Dr. Eggman ordered as they were 30 feet away their destination.

After the scientist's ride finally made contact with the ground, the gateway inside his aerial ship opened, allowing Eggman and his goons to exit.

While his boss led the way towards their destination, Docoe looked around and began to notice the creepy semidarkness effect brought against it; along with the sky's enormous blood-colored moon.

"Is the sky always this way when someone arrives here?" the dark-yellow robot wondered out loud.

"It was still daytime as we headed this way, so sunset should be taking place right about now," Bocoe responded to his comrades question.

Little did this mechanized pair know about Hang Castle's endless twilight. And within the stony gray castle walls were terrifying ghosts, from top to bottom.

While Bocoe and Docoe placed their hands to their robotic chins and began thinking, Bocoe suddenly took notice of Bokkun. The impish creature's pupils were shaped like pink hearts, and his tiny mouth was gaped; almost like nothing could ever interrupt his passionate moment.

"How long do you think he's been like that?" Bocoe pointed at Bokkun and grasped his friend's attention.

A sweat drop forming among his mechanized head was the only reaction needed to explain Docoe's response.

"Who knows? We'll figure out once we meet the Queen for ourselves."

Sooner than Bocoe and Docoe expected, they reached the castle's front door with Dr. Eggman starting to knock on its stiff door. The bald villain only made three taps and waited patiently.

Bocoe and Docoe stood beside each other with anxious expressions on their steel faces. They along with their master were finally getting the chance to meet whoever gained enough to courage to write a letter, and somehow cause Bokkun to act infatuated.

Even Eggman grew anticipated for this designated meeting.

Little did the orange mustached figure or his allies know that from a bricked pillar high above them, was a mysterious character with features identical to Nehelenia peering down at them. She carried completely bare grayish-blue skin, glossy indigo hair and sky-blue pupils, long ebony fingernails, and a stylish black pendant in the middle of her forehead. This was Queen Nehelenia's minion, otherwise known as a Mirror Paredri.

And so, as the silent creature realized her Highness's guests were right on schedule, she turned around and motioned her comrades to open the door.

Dr. Eggman and his goons noticed two Mirror Paredris and expected them to give a welcoming greeting. But instead, they remained quiet and by a show of hands motioned Nehelenia's guests into the castle.

In his mind, Eggman wondered why these minions didn't act verbal, but it wasn't too important to dwell on.

"Don't they know how to speak?" Docoe whispered quietly to Bocoe.

"The same thing I was thinking," Bocoe sided with his partner's reaction.

Meanwhile Bokkun only stayed excited about revisiting the lovely Dead Moon Queen.

So promptly, the evil scientist with Bocoe, Docoe, and Bokkun behind him entered the darkish castle walls and noticed its room was empty. If only Eggman decided to claim this as his property, then he'd know just what to hang on these untouched walls; pictures of no one but himself. But he had all of Station Square to transform into his one and only Eggman Theme Park; making Hang Castle his would probably be a side task.

As Nehelenia's accomplices continually led Eggman and his group towards her, there was another door in front of them; same size and color as the first entry.

Before pulling it open, the Mirror Paredri duo waited for their guests to approach them.

With the ordered actions of Nehelenia's gleaming pair, Eggman kept up his guard and stayed cautious of any possible twist in this prepared meet between him and and the Queen. The intelligent evildoer could already define Nehelenia as a mischief maker just like himself. Which meant there weren't too many reasons for his arrival to be wanted.

So the Mirror Paredris finally showed Eggman and his henchmen past the doors, leading them into a dead-looking courtyard. Ancient stone graves encrypted with R.I.P., patches of auburn and orange grass scattered across the dirt fields, scrawny fruitless trees, and the only factor that scared the wits out of Bocoe and Docoe: transparent floating spirits.

"D-d-d-doctor! Y-you didn't mention anything about this castle having any g-g-g-ghosts," cried Bocoe with Docoe beside him, as they walked through the gigantic seemingly wasteland.

"That's exactly right," Eggman replied in a matter of factually tone.

And because I didn't mention that, it shouldn't be an issue. Now quit your whining and keep up with me."

As their leader turned his head around and continued walking, Bocoe and Docoe exchanged glum faces. It was times like these the Doctor didn't pay them any mind to whatever their words were. While stepping through the castle's courtyard, Bocoe and Docoe remained fearful of any ghost approaching them like a jack-in-the-box toy.

For the second time, a tiny voice inside the shiny robot's mind alerted Bocoe to look over at Bokkun; with cartoon-looking hearts still as his eyeballs, and ghosts encircling him, Bocoe along Docoe's guess ended at a stop sign. They'd remain clueless as to how the apparently gentle Dead Moon Queen caught their comrades heart.

"Now he's starting to creep me out," Docoe stated nervously in his robotic voice.

Bokkun continued pacing beside them and didn't speak a word.

Soon the frightening pathway for Bocoe and Docoe ended, and they were led this time into a room with a long dining table. It was fancy and crafted from polished oak wood, a nicely lit candle placed in the middle, and untouched glass of wine and napkins and single chair on each end.

"So you've arrived."

Dr. Eggman including the others aimed their eyes at a woman from the opposite end of the table. This was the person they've been wanting to see; the sender of the surprising letter. And even in his aged years, Eggman couldn't deny Nehelenia's ravishing beauty. But this wouldn't ruin his figurative defenses.

Now the reason for Bokkun's unusually romantic behavior became evident. Even in their non-human bodies, Bocoe and Docoe were stunned by the Dead Moon lady's drop dead gorgeous appearance.

"Now it all makes sense. She is more beautiful than we imagined her to be," Bocoe affirmed in his programmed voice.

"You are right about that, Bocoe. I am glad she sent the letter to Dr. Eggman." Docoe couldn't take his eyes off Nehelenia which now changed into pink hearts. Any words him and Bocoe chatted about Bokkun had now disappeared into thin air; who could deny the dark-haired woman's beauty?

Out of nowhere, Queen Nehelenia found a familiar ebony character at her feet.

"Oh, well if is isn't the little boy who delivered my special letter for me."

It seemed as if Bokkun's eyes were glued to the empress's warm smile.

"Yep, it's me! And I'll just say that Dr. Eggman's honored to meet you."

If only the amour and fascination expressed from Bokkun hadn't reached his head, then the black imp would see how much anger he aroused inside Eggman; the egg-shaped man clenched his fists peevishly.

"That wasn't why I decided to show up, you little dimwit!" Eggman used his most annoyed voice to prove his motives were unlike what Bokkun told Nehelenia.

So with these reactions poured out, Dr. Eggman took the empty seat before him, while Bocoe, and Docoe were at his left and right. Bokkun decided not to stand near the hot-headed Eggman, so he kept next to the admired Queen.

Eggman took it in himself to wait for Nehelenia to speak. He WOULD figure out just why he'd been called to this nostalgic castle, and by a darkish woman of all people. The villainous scientist clearly noticed his goons' lovesick expressions, but now wasn't the time to worry about that.

"I'm glad that you and your henchmen could make it. You must be famished from the distance you traveled," Nehelenia spoke in a gentle tone.

Before Eggman realized, a Mirror Paredri appeared from his right with a round metal tray. This caught him along with his allies fully off surprise.

"Oh," Bocoe and Docoe were startled in unison.

They along with their creator waited eagerly for the Mirror Paredri to lift the top of the dish. As this was done, strips of lettuce could be seen; leading up to a scrumptious looking portion of legged food. It was a large turkey with its meaty juices poured all over; a fancy silver fork lying at its side.

If either Bocoe or Docoe had mouths, they'd be drooling over this delectable choice of meals. Sadness poured over the robots when they remembered they could not digest let alone taste a single morsel of food.

"I wish we could find out what that turkey tastes like," Docoe sighed as he watched Nehelenia's servant place Eggman's dinner on the table in front of him. Both the gold robot and Bocoe noticed their master's reaction to this pleasant food; the evil mastermind didn't hesitate to grab his utensil and began eating.

"My servants." Both Mirror Paredris' heads turned when their master caught their attention.

"Also bring something for this child to eat." Bokkun squealed in delight as he realized whom Nehelenia was referring to.

It was when her secretive admirer looked away the cold-blooded Queen finally landed on a personal thought.

'Disgusting creature!' She twisted her nose in repugnance.

Yes, Nehelenia wouldn't deny this harsh remark that was aimed towards Bokkun, but it'd still be locked away inside her precious mind; in the meantime the Dead Moon Empress would continue illustrating false warmth and kindness to Eggman's practical delivery boy. Surely Bokkun would serve as a benefit in the future.

Now it was the reasonable time to begin their discussion as Nehelenia grabbed her glass and held it.

"It's a shame really... with different people who title themselves as heroes."

Eggman ceased his eating once he realized their conversation had passed its starting point; he'd make sure to hear every word that escaped the mysterious Queen's lips.

"Whether they exist in this world, or in a different dimension all leads down to the same duties they must follow. And it stays that way until their time is done. However destiny has shown itself to me, and from that heroic path I don't have to suffer."

Truly, neither Docoe, Bocoe, or Eggman knew where Nehelenia was going with this. Bokkun hadn't took the time to give his full attention, now that a Mirror Paredri had gotten his delicious turkey leg for him. He chomped into the thick drumstick while holding it's leg in his gloved hands.

Eggman took a few sips of his alcohol wine in between Nehelenia's speech.

"I believe that you and I are one in the same. We willingly turn away from that idiotic path fools wish to run towards. Instead what we go for is much bigger, and that's perfectly sensible. I feel anyone who hasn't chosen the foolish road yet should gladly follow in our footsteps, wouldn't you agree?"

After Queen Nehelenia was finished speaking, she slowly closed her eyes and took a long sip from her ruby grape drink.

By now Eggman's stomach became full, so he set down his fork stopped digging into the turkey.

Bocoe and Docoe noticed their leader entering deep thoughts, and wondered what he'd say back to the enchanting royalty. Dr. Eggman didn't need to hear any more of his acquaintances opinionated speech. He'd listened through just about enough to formulate a passable response.

"I couldn't say that better myself," Eggman began as he caused Bokkun to stop his eating and glance at him. It'd be quite interesting to hear the mad scientist's response on Nehelenia's long explanation.

A cunning grin swept across the Dead Moon Queen's face when she realized her words ended in success.

"Those who decide to become heroes must realize how much is really being piled onto their shoulders. It's possible that you and I are born with the same destiny, but our roads will never intersect."

Nehelenia couldn't help but gasp at this response. Her plan had become crystal clear now. It was her own mistake to assume Dr. Eggman of suddenly agreeing to collaborate and form a alliance.

As Bokkun stared up at her, Eggman's minion wasn't sure what exactly stunned the Queen, but he remained concerned.

Even Docoe and Bocoe were surprised by their boss's rationale comeback; both partners felt this was the last time they'd be visiting Hang Castle.

"As we speak, there is a hedgehog who I just can't seem to defeat," Eggman pointed the topic into a different direction.

"It gets more difficult when one of his friends decides to interfere. Truly it feels like my dreams of dominating the world are beginning to slip away..."

The crimson-clothed evil remembered his words to Bocoe and Docoe about running out of plans for stopping his longtime rival. And during this dinner, Dr. Eggman could feel those same defeated, frustrating, and disappointed emotions reform inside himself.

"..but that doesn't ruin my drive to keep going. And if Fate is correct, there's a reason behind every occurrence. Now I'm not going to be grateful for this silly invitation you've sent me and accept your allegiance because of your hospitality. Rather, I'm heading back for my ship, and returning to my base to concoct another plan."

This bold declaration struck everyone and not just the Queen.

Truly Bocoe and Docoe liked the courage and determination Eggman showed through his words, but its after effects on Nehelenia were completely unpredictable.

Bokkun was dumbstruck for his leader saying everything he had, and things worsened once he glanced up at Nehelenia; she hadn't released her cup, but instead tightened the grip along with clenching her other fist. And with the coldness in her eyes, fire managed to mix itself.

The shadowy Queen had never been so humiliated and proved wrong by anyone except Sailor Moon; after this tragic downfall, she never wished to experience it a second time.

Deep down, Eggman knew he angered Nehelenia, but he'd rather fall over his own feet than possibly become a puppet. Sonic had done enough making an idiot out of him.

So the doctor along with Bocoe and Docoe started for the door, but Eggman still had words on the edge of his tongue.

"Oh. And good luck with whatever your "motives" are."

It pinched her nerves to hear that last statement. Not only had Nehelenia's plans been demolished, but now she'd have tough competition for conquering Earth.

Before she realized, the furious woman noticed Bokkun walk away from her side. Had he been nothing more than a waste of fake care to cast upon?

Now it seemed like all of the Queens's hope had died. With Eggman still in existence, she wouldn't have her dreams. And what would Sailor Galaxia think of all this?

In rash frustration, Nehelenia arose from her chair, then let out a yell and threw her wine glass at the wall, ignoring its loud shattering. Something along the lines of this was what Docoe and Bocoe feared.

"Very well then, Dr. Eggman," the Dead Moon Queen instantly switched into a calm tone.

Eggman and his comrades along with Bokkun remained staring at the long-haired villain.

"We shall see who reaches the end of their destinies first. I suggest you round up your best fighters, because there's going to be a war two days from now."

Bocoe, Docoe, and Bokkun all gasped at this statement, but their creator wasn't phased in the least. He'd commanded and constructed dozens of robots and other fighting machines.

"Ha! You must be joking if you think you can go so far as challenging me. Even if you are a Queen, you stand no chance against an IQ of 300," Dr. Eggman was distinctly referring to his self as the evildoer crossed his arms and smirked boastfully.

Queen Nehelenia only made a short laugh at this response. Her femininity had nothing to do with this battle if that were what Eggman was thinking.

"Intelligence alone cannot help you defeat me. Do not be easily fooled by my looks."

After this was addressed, Nehelenia telepathically instructed her Mirror Paredris to approach Dr. Eggman. Nothing seemed worth worrying over at first, until they raised their hands and caused their black nails to grow in length, scaring Bocoe, Docoe, and Bokkun.

Eggman grew startled as the minor villains whimpered in fear. He realized just what him and his lackeys were up against once he glanced once more at the smirking Nehelenia, whose arms were now folded; they kept their stare on each other as silence and suspense took over the room.

Eggman's allies couldn't help but move their eyes back and forth to see if anything would occur early.

Nehelenia's face looked so confident and focused; like nothing could so far as make her take a step backwards.

It was until now Docoe and Bocoe became paranoid for their boss's sake; with the ability of the Mirror Paredris, no one could call Nehelenia weak.

On the other hand, Dr. Eggman's toothy grin appeared while he pushed out a snickering laugh. The villain's henchmen knew what exactly what this meant.

If accepting this fight meant being number one in working towards ruling the world, then Eggman was definitely ready.


	4. Chapter 4

**_-Crossroads City-_**

When he stepped out of the store entrance, dozens of customers and citizens pacing along the sidewalk stared at Sonic confusedly; this went the same for Knuckles.

Then, as he usually would, Sonic with Knuckles beside him ran off for their destination. It didn't take Sonic long in order to choose Rei's surprise gift; he didn't carry any doubts about the Hikawa Priestess despising her glamorous present.

"So you really think getting that ring is gonna make her become nicer towards us?" asked Knuckles as he kept a constant pace.

"Yep! I'm sure of it!" Sonic answered with a confident grin across his face.

Knuckles let out a tiny but silent grunt as his response. Even with accepting his friend's actions, Knuckles couldn't see himself doing the same thing. Already not referring to Rei by her name, the echidna didn't have any plans of developing a friendship with the raven-haired girl, or in fact any other human.

While Knuckles had paced through Sonic in the gift shop, catching sight of a sparkling colored jewel made unexpected thoughts appear in his mind. And he wouldn't act so quickly to erasing these thoughts either.

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

With the groups of stars and huge pearly moon outside, the time was near seven forty-five. Homework had been finished, the studying portion was completed, and now Rei with her allies merely waited for Sonic and Knuckles's return.

The hedgehog would never know how anxious and determined Rei's comrades were to finally meet him and Knuckles. But on the other hand, Sonic wondered about what Serena and the others were actually like. Sonic enjoyed meeting new faces; and if making friends were somehow included or happened to occur, then he wouldn't mind that either.

"So Rei. Just how much do you know about these Sonic and Knuckles people?" asked Luna as she sat beside Ami.

By her serious expression. Rei seemed totally prepared to give an answer. With her friends now by her side, she'd learn everything needed to know about her grandpa's new temple workers.

"Well, they-"

The swift push of Rei's door was loud enough to chop off the next portion of her sentence and interrupt her.

"We're back!" Sonic announced.

With almost no surprise, the hedgehog and Knuckles heard gasps and received stares with agape mouths. Rei's friends finally got to see the anthropomorphic beings that destroyed the Hikawa Temple banner. Since Lita, Ami, and Mina already witnessed animal-like creatures, they weren't too surprised with Knuckles and Sonic's appearances. However Serena, Rini, and the Moon cats' mind entered a deep wonder.

'They are almost resemble Artemis and I,' thought Luna.

An idea of Rei's guests coming from a different planet slipped into her mind, but more guesses fell in afterward. It was as if this current happening contained millions of paths for Luna and her friends to choose. No matter how long it took, her and Artemis would find out where these strange looking creatures appeared from.

As the staring continued, Sonic now placed a hand to his side, and his expression was resolved; he was neither left speechless or confused by this new set of guests inside Rei's bedroom. It was why she'd literally kicked them out in the first place, right?

Meanwhile, Knuckles stayed mute and didn't turn his serious face to anyone in the room; already his cold personality was showing.

"So you two must be Sonic and Knuckles," Ami broke the silence.

Even then, the room was quiet because no one expected Ami to respond in a casual tone.

"..Yep, that's right!" replied Sonic.

"I'm Sonic and he's Knuckles. Nice to meet ya all."

Soon, the rest of Rei's friends overcame their shyness and introduced themselves.

"My name is Ami."

"I'm Lita!"

"And I'm Mina!" Mina stated in a kind tone.

"My names-" before Serena could explain herself, Rini covered the blond's mouth with her hand and nabbed their guest's attention.

"I'm Rini and this is my annoying cousin Serena. You don't wanna keep any sweets around her."

Sonic along with Knuckles absorbed this information while sweat drops arose on their foreheads. It wasn't as if they carried sugary foods with them to begin with, but Rini's childish voice speaking about that had surprised them.

"O-oh. Well Knuckles and I will make sure to remember that then," Sonic replied.

"Ohhhhhh, must you always embarrass me when we have guests, Rini?" Serena began to fume with anger at her future-daughter.

"I'm only giving them a warning," Rini quickly retorted.

"Nobody asked you to talk. Just hush up and sit down, Rini."

With no more words to give, Rini returned to her place at the dining table and let out a huff while crossing her arms. In the end, Serena always won out of their petty arguments because she was older.

So after Serena took her seat and returned a glare to her daughter, Sonic and Knuckles were motioned by their new guests to sit at the table.

"Sonic. Knuckles. These cats right here can also speak like you. They're names are Artemis and Luna." By saying this, Rei had wished that her and the others would learn something new about their acquaintances.

Sonic including Knuckles quickly turned their glances towards the snow and ebony-colored felines. In most ways Luna and Artemis resembled house cats, but the moment Sonic noticed their golden crescent moons on their foreheads, the hedgehog and Knuckles soon realized that there was something mysterious about everyone including Rei; neither hero could take their eyes away from the marked symbols on Artemis and Luna's furry heads.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two," a friendly smile formed on Artemis's lips.

"Each of us has witnessed individuals who look like they are acquainted with you. So we'd like to know where exactly you two came from," Luna explained.

"Oh. You're talking about Tails, Amy, Cream, and Cheese. Those are our friends," Sonic replied.

Lita was relieved to hear this. At least now she and her friends could figure that they'd already been acquainted with Sonic's pals.

It didn't take long for Sonic to figure out just who Rei's friends might have noticed around the city; they'd decided to come and explore Crossroads for different reasons. Cream and Cheese had learned of their fabulous floral garden, Amy being the person to pick them up and lead them back home. Another reason for Amy's entering the city was to check out what latest fashions were placed on sale. With Sonic and Knuckles getting into trouble and becoming workers in the Hikawa Shrine, Tails propelled through the clear blue skies in hopes of finding them.

"And about where we came from.. well there's no exact place that I can call home. But for now I guess we can say Station Square," Sonic clarified his explanation.

Rei along with her human pals raised their eyebrows in wonder. This New-York like city sounded odd to them because they'd never heard of it before; it couldn't have been located too far away from them.

"Where's that located?" Artemis spoke up.

"Only about 45 miles away from this city," Sonic answered.

"Station Square, huh? We should check out the city sometime, Luna," Ami brought this suggestion.

"In that case, why don't we all gather up at the beach tomorrow? It'll be a great way of getting to know each other more. Who's with me?" Serena asked in a considerate tone.

This plan had to be thought over before easily getting accepted.

"The beach...?"

Sonic needed some clarity; the first thing that came to mind when he heard "beach" was his worst fear yet.

"Yeah. It'll be fun," Mina answered to him.

"Which reminds me.. this calls for some shopping!" The eager blond stood up and raised her arm.

"Mina. Don't you already have something to wear to the beach?" Artemis asked in a flat tone.

"You mean those bathing suits in my closet from 8th grade? No, those aren't in style anymore," Mina explained while shaking her head in disagreement.

"As of now, white with pink polka dots is the new black! Before we go to the beach, I can stop by the mall and buy a two piece suit."

Before responding, Artemis let out a sigh; fashion was never his expertise.

"Well, just don't take too long. We don't want to arrive there too late."

"But we haven't even decided what time we're going," Mina pointed out.

"Ohh, you're right..."

A sweat drop formed on Artemis's head when he thought about Mina's response.

"Well, sometime around 1 or 2 in the afternoon sounds reasonable."

"Yes, I agree," added Luna.

"Then it's settled! Sonic," Rini turned her ruby eyes towards the hedgehog.

"Get your friends and tell them to meet us down at the Crossroads City Beach. We'll have a large red umbrella so you can find us."

"Yeah, sure thing."

Sonic felt that this trip to the beach would be pleasant, but in the back of his mind, the ocean's splashing waves haunted him.

Suddenly a familiar voice interrupted his scary thoughts.

"By the way, what's that tiny box in your hand?" asked Mina in a curious tone.

"Oh, this?" Sonic rose from the ground and looked down at the present while it rested in his gloved palm.

Now the moment he'd been waiting for could prosper.

With a gentle smile appearing on his face, Sonic walked over to Rei around the table and prepared to hand the small container to her.

"Here. I figure since me and Knuckles are living under your roof, we give you something to show that we're friendly."

Rei's expression was speechless, her mouth slightly agape and her pupils widened. She hadn't seen anything like this coming at all. Receiving a surprise present didn't connect with Sonic and Knuckles becoming Shinto Priests in her grandfather's temple. The idea of Sonic giving Rei a gift seemed hard to believe.

Her friends gasped while eyeballing the scene between the confident Sonic and their overwhelmed friend. Meanwhile Knuckles guessed this sort of happening to take place, not the least bit surprised.

Serena along with her pals wondered how Rei would go about accepting Sonic's gift. This was the first time a guy had ever offered the single woman a present.

The entire time, Rei stared at Sonic's minirature box along with everyone else, but Knuckles closed his eyes and remained sitting.  
Sonic grew anxious to hear Rei's approval. He noticed the priestess finally reach for his hand and take the box, then lift it's cover to find a piece of jewelry. It was a silver ring topped with a plastic butterfly whose body and wings were both scarlet.

Slowly, Rei grabbed the tiny object from its box and held it in her fingers. When she thought about it, it carried a lot of appeal; probably Rini or Serena would purchase this ring if they had any cash; also the fact that crimson was Rei's signature color.

Luna and the others couldn't help but wonder why Sonic would go about developing a friendship with Rei through gifting her.

"Well, do you like it?" Sonic asked while looking up at Rei.

The next few moments grew climatic as Rei's honest answer was desired.

She brought utter shock to Sonic and her friends when she tossed her new ring to her right, Sonic mainly watching as it landed to the floor and made a small clanking noise.

Serena and Rini gasped at this unexpected shift of events, while Lita, Ami and Mina only looked with worried expressions; this rude action was unlike Rei.

"You didn't have to go through the trouble of getting me something. The reason for you and Knuckles being here is only to pay back the money you owe for our shrine gate."

After Rei explained this, silence began to take over the atmosphere. This reaction alone was all Sonic needed to realize her real emotions.

"Well.. alright then. I think the front entrance needs more sweeping. Knuckles, let's hop to it," Sonic confirmed, heading towards the door with his echidna pal behind him; Knuckles wasn't affected by this scene in the slightest because his prediction of Sonic wasting money on a girl became true.

Serena felt like beckoning Sonic to not leave the room, but she realized how much Rei's action could have affected him.

As Sonic and Knuckles paced, Rei stayed where she was and kept glancing at the carpet floor. She couldn't think of any words to give at this unexpected moment. In her mind, declining Sonic's gift carried a reason behind it.

Moments after Sonic closed the door behind him, Lita finally parted her lips.

"Rei, what's gotten into you? Why did you toss his present like that? I don't think he meant anything wrong behind it."

"I have to agree with Lita on that. Still, out of all things, I'm not sure why he chose a ring as a gift," Ami added her input.

"Great! At least Ami still has her common sense," Rei folded her arms as she joined her friends at the table.

"But that's away from the point," Ami concluded her thoughts.

Just when she'd had someone taking up for her, now Rei felt like guilt was starting to enter and crawl underneath her skin.

Suddenly Rei noticed pairs of concerned pupils locked directly on hers; not one of her friends held back their real emotions on her cruel behavior.

"It'd be nicer if you just told him you don't like jewelry," Serena made this suggestion.

"Who said I didn't like rings?" Rei barked in a irritated voice as she neared her face towards Serena's.

But Serena wouldn't let herself be verbally abused by the temperamental miko, so she placed both hands on the table and leaned towards the opposite end where Rei was sitting before responding.

"Well obviously you have a dislike towards rings if you toss them like a piece of garbage!"

"You have a lot of nerve saying that, Serena! I enjoy jewelry just like any other girl. But if somebody you only knew for two days came up to you and handed you a ring, would you be accept it? Just imagine how Darien would feel if he heard about some stranger giving you jewelry."

"Don't you go putting my Darien into this! If someone handed me a ring, I'd tell them no thank you, which is what you should've told Sonic."

Rei kept her voice mute as she pondered on this response. Serena was right; there could have been a more respective approach for Rei to take instead of the answer she gave Sonic.

"Rei," Artemis began in a calm tone.

"What we're all trying to say is that, we understand you being surprised by someone offering you a ring. But the best way of going about it is like what Serena said."

"Yeah. How would you feel if someone treated your present like that?" Mina's voice followed Artemis's.

And now the sheer guilt merged deeper into Rei, causing her to do nothing but let out a sigh and look down. Hearing all of these different sentences from her friends slapped her in the face. As buddies, she expected them to stay by her side no matter what, but now was a totally different scenario. Rei was dead wrong but stubborn.

Her friends waited for her to once again speak, but in an instant they noticed the priestess rising from her spot and retrieving her gift from the floor. It made sense for their advice to have a positive effect on her. Although their hopes were soon crushed.

"Here. I want you to have the ring," Rei's tone lowered as she walked up to Mina and extended her arm towards the young girl.

Mina was taken aback by this sudden act from Rei. This cutesy ring hadn't been paid for her to wear.

In the beginning everyone's faces were glued to the precious accessory in Rei's fleshy palm, then they shifted their eyes towards her. Her expression contained a smile, but it wasn't bold. Rei was trying her best to end this day and put it behind her. Since her friends didn't agree with her insight on Sonic giving her a ring, then maybe Mina would enjoy it being in her possession.

Oblivious to Rei and the others, Chad leaned against the closed opening in the hallway and listened intently to the entire conversation. He was appalled and couldn't believe the type of gesture Sonic was attempting by offering Rei a piece of jewelry; in his world, pleasing Rei was his job, at least this was the plan until he first gained courage to express his feelings towards her.

Even in his anthropomorphous form, Sonic was least expected to make a move towards Rei. Actually, he was the first to do this.

Still, Chad decided to handle this situation by confrontation. If he didn't act quick enough, then sure enough many guys would appear and come towards Rei with intimacy on their mind.

And so Chad moved away from the door and headed towards his room.

* * *

10 minutes passed, and Rei's friends decided to leave, noticing Sonic along with Knuckles continuing to sweep the temple grounds. This was the perfect to time give hedgehog and echidna a farewell, but they appeared to be focused solely on swaying their brooms, never shifting their pupils.

So Serena and her friends carried their feet along the path without even muttering any words.

2 hours later, Sonic found himself unable to sleep in his bed, so the azure hedgehog decided to sit on the outside step of his new household. The air's temperature was cold and windy.

To his surprise, Sonic noticed a familiar individual already seated; his arms were folded like usual, while his violet eyes kept seriousness in them.

"Hey. What are you doing outside when it's cold?"

Sonic chose a spot beside Knuckles and sat in it.

"Thinking about something," Knuckles answered with a flat tone.

"Thinking about what?"

"About the Master Emerald of course," Knuckles replied bluntly.

"It's been unguarded for too long. Without me to watch over it, Rouge probably has her thieving hands all over it."

Hearing this, Sonic merely smiled while gazing up at the night's shining moon.

Knuckles was devoted primarily to guarding the Master Emerald and nothing else. He'd decide to utilize time with challenging Sonic in another one of their usual fights, but now with becoming a worker in a traditional shrine and being away from his home for 2 days, Knuckles felt it was time to return; just as well as his other pals, Sonic was completely aware of this.

"I should've guessed you would do this. Rei and the others are gonna wonder where you went."

"And so what if they do. I have huger responsibilities then working for something that wasn't even my fault."

"Ohh, so that's the way you're gonna make it sound, then," Sonic rose from his seat and crossed his arms with a smirk.

"If I remember correctly, you're the one who smashed their gate into pieces."

"Oh yeah? And you're the angel with a halo on your head? It's your fault we ended up here to begin with."

Sonic wasn't the type of character to speak falsely, but at the same time he wouldn't let himself resemble a loser of an argument. In the end, Knuckles recognized that the blame was his; but again, it wasn't something that he'd point out.

"I'm outta here," Knuckles declared after a tiny silence between Sonic and him took place.

Then the frustrated echidna got up from where he was and began walking away.

This moment in time was potential. Although part of it still felt awkward. Even with no duties besides his usual heroism, Sonic was left alone to take care of the Hikawa Shrine Gate needing money for replacement. This wasn't how things were supposed to happen, but truly, the independent hedgehog should have seen it coming. At this point, reality was still knocking him in the face.

The whole time Knuckles was pacing away, Sonic's expression remained calm. Whether he liked it or not, it would be wise for Sonic to stay residing in the Hikawa Temple and work twice as hard until enough money was paid off for Mr. Hino's tall gate; he wouldn't back down from his trouble because of Knuckles's choice.

Now with Knuckles's sudden departure, Sonic felt more difficulty with returning to sleep. He'd have to formulate a way continue his Shinto Trainee tasks on his own.

When he turned around to head for the door, someone with trademark bushy hair was standing right in front of him. Sonic's eyes widened as he was startled by this unexpected appearance.

Sonic found himself standing on one side of the pavement while Chad took the other, the shrine's gray pathway dividing them.

He was still puzzled, but Sonic had been informed by Chad that he wouldn't let Sonic continue his uncalled behavior, meaning Chad would mend the situation by defeating him in a fight.

When first hearing this, Sonic wasn't sure if he should laugh or ask for clarity.

Either way, a grin appeared on the curious figure's lips; Sonic very well knew who'd be the winner of this combated duel, yet he didn't know if Chad were serious.

Chad's fists were clenched and raised, leveling with his chest. His dark-blue eyes were cold and narrowed at Sonic.

"I'll show you what happens when you make a move on the wrong girl!" Chad yelled with a fierce tone as he began to rush towards his opponent.

"Make a move...?" Sonic had to ponder on what the young man just said; no where in this day had the hedgehog planned anything based on "making a move".

However as he continued to dwell on this, Sonic took notice of a fist approaching him. So he used this time to sidestep to the right. Thanks to this, Chad unfortunately lost his balance and flew headfirst towards the cement ground.

Sonic faced his challenger to wait for his next move. He noticed few scratches on Chad's face when he picked himself up from the ground, along with a awestruck expression.

"...y-y-y-y-you..."

Now Sonic was aware of the form of reaction he'd receive.

Remaining frozen, he watched Chad gawking in amazement and pointing at him.

Before speaking, Chad had to push the words from out of his throat, as they were stuck thanks to the awe Sonic had caused.

"NO WAY! How could anyone move that fast?"

Then before he knew it, Chad witnessed a neon cerulean light streak rightward. He realized that Sonic had ran towards the house.

"Huh? Why'd he run away?"

Chad looked towards his home but only found Rei coming from inside and noticing him.

"Chad? What are you doing out here? It's 10:30."

Rather than explain the truth, Chad felt better handling the situation only between Sonic and him.

So he gave a false excuse while rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Oh, well.. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to go for a walk."

While this discussion was carrying on, Sonic listened while sitting on the roof with his arms behind his head. The male hedgehog felt that Chad was foolish to lie, and with already confronting him.

"Hmph. Give me a break," Sonic muttered under his breath.

After Sonic made his personal comment, he noticed Rei turning around to return inside her Japanese-styled house.

Before following after Rei, Chad studied the area in case Sonic were still outside. But everywhere the Shinto Trainee looked, there was no sign of the mysterious Sonic anywhere.

And so he walked after Rei and planned to try getting some rest.

Sonic used these moments to lift himself up from the surface of the constructed roof and drop towards the pavement. In order for Chad to not see him, the witty hedgehog laid flat on where he was to hide.

'That guy has some serious issues,' thought Sonic as he walked towards the door.

* * *

**_-Crossroads Beach-_**

The next morning, just as Serena had planned, her and the others met up with Sonic and his friends at the beach. Mina was excited about slipping on her fabulous polka dot swimsuit Cream and Cheese were excited to see Lita again, not to mention the brunette's pals. Amy and Tails were pleased about being introduced to Sonic's new acquaintances, except they grew concerned for the whereabouts of Rei and Ami.

Without surprise, nearby civilians who were enjoying their stay at the beach reacted with awestruck when they saw Sonic and his pack of allies. Serena assured them to not worry about the looks they were given and continue their activities; while Amy and Sonic relaxed and talked with Mina and the others, Tails joined Cream and Cheese with gathering sand and building their million grains into castles.

"Didn't your other friends decide to meet you all here?" Tails asked Serena.

"Wait. Where ARE Ami and Rei?" Serena turned her sapphire pupils to Luna.

"I'd like to think that an emergency came up," responded Luna.

"I'll go and look for them."

Sonic made this declaration, then zipped away in his usual cerulean strip of light. Amy rose from her beach towel and started after him.

"Sonic, wait!" Amy pleaded while she reached out to her proclaimed boyfriend with her hand.

Seeing that he wouldn't return, Amy sighed and bent her head down. Sonic disappearing when Amy had a chance to spend time with him was repetitive. The rose preteen couldn't help but wonder about the mysterious identities of Serena's missing friends; obviously they were both female.

Returning to her spread blanket, Amy's expression became stern as she pondered on these women who Sonic was willingly deciding to search for.

* * *

**-Hikawa Shrine-**

The events from yesterday disturbed Rei more than everyone else thought they had.

And so as an ending result, Rei chose not to attend the meeting at the Crossroads Beach, also calling Ami to have an important discussion with her.

While Rei sat on her bed dressed in a magenta set of pajama shirt and pants, Ami stood in front of the miko clothed in her indigo school uniform.

Already Rei had addressed that she didn't feel in the correct mood of going to the beach.

"Rei. Don't you think that you're overreacting a bit? What happened yesterday doesn't have to do with today."

Ami could notice a expression of guilt spread across Rei's face. She tried her best to understand the raven-haired girl's point of view. Rei was known to act stubborn, but selfishness never resided in her personality.

"Rei. Here's your ramen, piping hot!"

This voice entered the area as Rei along with Ami saw the bedroom door slide open and Mr. Hino let himself in; the shrine grandpa was carrying a bowl of cooked noodles.

"Oh. You decided to invite someone over," Mr. Hino continued as he walked up to Rei and handed her the steamed meal; the entire time Ami wondered just what was going on with Rei requesting soup. But soon the azure-haired teenager figured it out.

"Well, just make sure not to hug them. We don't want others to catch your nasty cold."

After saying this, Mr. Hino exited his granddaughter's room, helping Ami to better learn the situation.

Now Rei felt even more guilt spreading over her as her best friend's eyes revealed concern.

"You're sick, and you didn't tell me?" Ami spoke in a worried tone.

"I didn't want to... ACHOO!- worry you," Rei confessed in a low tone while her sneeze released itself.

"With yesterday, it probably looks like I said no just to not be around... ACHOO!- Sonic. But that's not the case," Rei explained as she was rubbing her nose.

Thinking back to Sonic bothered Rei, making her want to grasp a new thought and hold onto it. In her world, the hedgehog's actions of offering her a ring were still unexcused, because she still didn't feel comfortable with it; to think how Chad would feel if he witnessed it.

"No, no, it's alright, Rei. The others will understand that you're sick and am trying to recover," Ami responded with an assuring tone.

"Thanks, Ami."

Ami's caring and gentle attributes was what made her so lovable; Rei felt secured to have a great friend like her.

"I wish there were some way I could make it up to you," Rei blew unto her soup to cool down its temperature.

"The only thing you should focus on is getting better. Maybe I can come back with the others and visit you," Ami stated with a warm smile.

"Definitely!" Rei returned a similar expression.

"Well, see you later then!" Ami gave her farewell as she headed for the door.

"Alright, bye! ACHOO!"

After watching her friend slide the door closed, Rei started to drink her soup's warm juice. The more she swallowed, the more heat Rei felt her body producing; it felt pleasant to her.

"Ahh.. nothing like some nice hot soup to make the cold go away."

Out of nowhere, Rei saw her grandpa returning into the room and approaching her bed, bringing her wonder.

"Yeah, Grandpa?"

While still holding her bowl of noodles in both hands, Rei stared patiently at her elder guardian.

"Would you happen to know where our new trainees are? I didn't see either of them outside sweeping or scrubbing the floors. Chad is in the kitchen wiping down the windows."

Rei knew she'd have to provide the truth for her grandpa, whether he liked it or not. Still, the fact that Knuckles was missing had grabbed her attention.

With the crimson echidna in mind, Rei felt better including him in the same excuse as Sonic.

"I gave them permission to take a break."

"A break? Rei. You know as well as I do that work doesn't get complete with free time in its midst."

Rei had to do her best in order to keep the truth behind mainly Sonic's departure, since it was her friend's that he was hanging out with.

"One break isn't going to change anything. Chad is here to handle everything," Rei explained with a flat tone.

"Well.. you have a point, I guess."

Mr. Hino didn't want to argue with his granddaughter, especially over a matter as simple as what they were now talking about, so he simply made this response and left the room.


	5. Chapter 5

**_-Crossroads Beach_**-

Sonic hadn't returned yet.

More than others, Amy was becoming worried. So she decided to talk to Serena and gain further clarification as to why Sonic left.

"So it's two of your friends that he went after?"

"Yeah! T-they wanted to meet all of you too," Serena answered in a nervous voice.

Neither the blond, Mina, Lita, Rini, or the Moon Cats were prepared for this sort of behavior that amy was expressing. She was paranoid of why the fastest thing alive hadn't returned yet.

Amy had without realizing it embarrassed all of her anthropomorphic pals; they couldn't remember a time where the rose hedgehog hadn't worried herself over Sonic.

Everyone became startled once they noticed Amy begin to head away from them and back in the direction of the city.

"Amy, wait!" Rini beckoned to the stubborn girl.

A low sigh escaped the pigtailed child's lips as she watched Amy still pace towards the pavement. The next moments commenced with an awkward silence; Mina had been holding such a pleasant conversation with Amy until she left.

"Does Amy always worry this much over Sonic?" Mina asked Tails in a concerned tone.

"Well.. not exactly," Tails answered, rubbing his head sheepishly while Cream and Cheese gave the same type of response.

"What the heck is that thing?" came a loud random voice.

Tails, Cheese, and Cream along with their other friends faced the ocean to see a large clam resting in front of it; it then resulted in leaving everyone and also other civilians with agape mouths and bulged eyes. This mystery appeared to have been washed up and landed in this particular spot.

But with its humongous size, Tails knew that it wasn't a normal shell.

"A clam?" Rini spoke in complete befuddlement.

"But why is it so huge?"

Rini and the others were filled with curiosity and wanted to approach this giant object, however both Luna and Artemis suggested they keep a far distance away from it, for its whereabouts were unknown, and its width and length were possibly meant not to be underestimated.

"Stay where you are," Luna told her friends.

"We're not sure where that clam could've washed up from, but that doesn't mean it can't be suspicious."

And so Lita and the others took heed of the ebony feline's advice. Things became weird once Lita noticed Serena move from her spot and head towards the smooth clam with an eager expression on her face.

In her mind, Serena was pondering on the fact of what could be inside of this giant clam; a huge fabulous pearl, that were most likely the most shiny jewel to ever have existed? Pearls were known to be evolved inside of clams, so what could prove that to be false?

"Huh?" Lita responded in puzzlement.

"Serena! Didn't you hear what Luna just told us?"

Somehow, Serena's behaving rebellious against Luna's given order didn't seem to phase Lita or the rest of her usual pals because it was a typical matter. Each of them except for Tails, Cream and Cheese contained sweat drops on their heads; Serena managed to embarrass them and wasn't aware in the slightest way.

Tails wondered just if Serena shared the same type of stubbornness like Amy; it seemed possible. The twin-tailed fox then turned his eyes towards Mina to ask her a question.

"Does Serena always act like this when Luna tells her not to do something?"

"Well..." Mina began the answer, scratching her head sheepishly.

"She does have her moments."

"Serena! Get back here right now!" Luna hollered, rising from the ground and taking a few steps forward.

"You don't have to worry, Luna!" Serena looked back and replied in a assuring voice.

"I'm just checking to see if it'll open up and show me its pearl!"

Even as a domestic house cat, it seemed like Luna had to be parental towards Serena when it came to seeing her get into trouble.

For someone who were a future mother, she was showing a bad example to Rini, but the rose-haired child didn't let it affect her.

"That meatball head never listens," Rini shook her head in disappointment.

From the top of a building feet away from the beach, Sailor Galaxia stood with her arms folded. She'd been able to catch a glimpse of the characters that Nehelenia was ordered to annihilate.

Right now, they were obviously in their civilian forms, but Galaxia could sense their energies.

The soldier would have developed a way to scold the Dead Moon Queen for her disobedience, but things could change for the better if the figure inside of the giant seashell took care of the annoying Sailor Scouts.

All in all, it was a creature living under the sea that one of Nehelenia's mirror fragments happened to land inside of.

Either way, Sailor Galaxia was sure that it contained enough power to wipe out the Moon Princess and her little friends.

Luna along with the others watched Serena approach the giant clam and study its features. Hopefully nothing horrible would come out of Serena touching it, because she insisted to look at it.

Even after 5 seconds, the clam didn't make any sudden movements. Serena's friends remained where they were, feeling more cautious than her. Maybe if she poked its surface than the shell would move.

So that's just what Serena did, and the clam began to lift its top and open its mouth. Serena froze in wonder of what could be laying under the giant object.

Galaxia anticipated that it was a monster powerful enough to rid of her enemies. The smirk on her face never changed.

Once there was enough opening to make a conclusion, Serena gasped in utter surprise along with her friends behind her. Cream felt the most skeptical while covering her tiny mouth along with Cheese.

Laying inside of the giant mollusk was a woman, but this individual didn't have a face.

Luna and Artemis were both sure they recognized this person, but without facial features they felt mistaken.

Yet, with hair bundled into gorgeous french rolls, she appeared older and taller than Serena, equipped in nothing but material designed with gold; a breastplate with a dark jewel crested in its middle, a skirt, boots that reached right below her knees with garnet jewels at their top, jeweled bracelets, a beaded necklace and matching V-neck collar, a stylish tiara with a white and copper jewel embedded inside it, and lastly a peculiar-looking crown for her head. Her shoulder pads and what dangled from her tiara were strips of also gold with garnet shards hanging at their ends.

Then Sailor Galaxia realized why a replica of herself birthed inside of the clam. Even before moving on into self-explanation, the feminine villain clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.

There had to be only reason for all of this.

Anything that derived from Nehelenia's mirror consisted of factors or people she despised. Sailor Moon had been one of them. But Galaxia had turned out to be the Queen's biggest source of hatred.

Now it all made sense to her.

From the beginning, Sailor Galaxia should have understood just how much envy someone who served her would feel. Nehelenia's goal was to obtain eternal youth and world domination.

Because Galaxia's strength and power surpassed the Dead Moon Queen's, she didn't serve as competition for her. Instead she shined brighter than Nehelenia even before a battle could arise. Nehelenia wanted exactly what Sailor Galaxia had, and more than being defeated loathed the fact that she had to follow rules from someone who resembled her dreamed image.

"Huh? Why is there a lady inside of this giant clam?" thought Serena out loud.

At this rate, Nehelenia didn't deserve any second chances. The idea of being envied and hated for what she already had infuriated Galaxia.

'Grrrrrr! That wench...!'

An awesome yellow aura started to glow around Galaxia's body as the ends of her headpiece were lifted by its pressure. The enraged woman with a raised fist could feel her power rising. A new fire appeared in her blood garnet eyes and blazed fiercely.

'So I'm the person she hates more than that rotten Sailor Moon... I should have seen this coming, but it won't be ignored. I'll make sure that her dreams never come true...'

The golden empress stared down at her fist then released its invisible grip. Next her strange aura disappeared, then her anger lessened a bit.

Before she motioned to dealing with Nehelenia, Galaxia still awaited the death of Sailor Moon.

Moments later, the replica inside of the clam began to slowly rise from the ground, placing her eyes on Serena.

From Serena's point of view, being stared at by a faceless woman crept her out.

"Serena, get away from there! That's not someone you can fight against on your own!" beckoned Luna.

Whether this was the woman her and Artemis had heard stories about, Luna didn't want to risk one of her comrades being destroyed by them.

"Huh?" Serena looked back at the ebony feline then faced the replica to see her now holding a whip created of sheer light.

As she couldn't help but stare at it, it's brightness created a painful glare, so Serena did as she'd been told and backed away to avoid be struck at

The moment Serena took a step backward, she then had to leap to avoid getting knocked off her feet.

"Aaahh! Watch where you swing that thing!"

Soon the scene turned into Serena jumping into random spots to avoid being sliced. Her friends remained where they were but watched in shock as they had trouble thinking of a way to assist the pigtailed girl.

"Serena!" everyone yelled in unison.

"Hmm... not much of a fighter," Sailor Galaxia grinned with her arms still crossed.

Lita, Mina, and Rini were prepared to transform, except they had to remember Tails, Cream, and Cheese were present. They hadn't taken the time to reveal their heroic forms to the anthropomorphic beings just yet; so Lita improvised.

"Rini! Take Cream and the others out of here."

"Mhm!"

And after giving her head nod, Rini motioned each anthropomorphic being to follow behind her.

Lita could notice Cream looking back at her with a expression of deep concern while being led away. The little rabbit didn't understand any of this.

Why couldn't all of them escape together from the evil? Just where was Mr. Sonic anyway? He would know what to do.

Everything would better itself once Lita and her friends were destined to tell them about their lives as crime-fighting heroes.

Until then, Lita formed a smile large enough for Cream and Cheese to see. This was her way of letting them know everything would work out in the end.

And soon their truth wouldn't have to be hidden from the innocent child or others.

Once Cream and the others were out of the area, Lita turned around to face the ongoing action with Serena and the replica; in an instant her face filled with seriousness.

"It's time for the scouts to appear!" stated Luna as she looked at both Mina and Lita.

Both girls nodded their heads, then quickly begun the transformation sequences.

"JUPITER, CRYSTAL, POWER!"

"VENUS, CRYSTAL, POWER!"

In a matter of seconds, the Sailor Scout's bathing suits changed into their sailor fuku. Galaxia had kept her eye on this and became more interested in the battle's upcoming occurrences. A three on one battle seemed pretty interesting.

By now, Serena panted for breath, still trying her best with avoiding the replica's strikes.

For the past amount of time, the replica used her same arm and didn't appear to grow weary from it.

A long chain built with hearts spun around Sailor Venus while her eyes were closed.

"VENUS, CHAIN, ENCIRCLE!"

It was over for Serena as the light whip came zipping at her.

To ease her pain, the blond shielded her face with her arms and turned away in fear.

The Scout of Love raised her hand to command her linked weapon shoot towards the replica's.

Serena didn't feel anything touch her.

Slowly she removed her hands from her face to notice a tangle between the whip coming at her and familiar chain, each of them being tugged at as the knot was tightening.

"Venus!" Serena turned around and exclaimed in relief.

Now there wasn't anymore time to waste. Serena hurried over to her allies in order to buy time for her transformation.

"Serena, there's no time to waste! We need Sailor Moon also!" ordered Luna.

"MOON, ETERNAL, MAKE UP!"

* * *

**_-Crossroads City-_**

Sonic didn't understand why Ami and Rei chose not to come, for his usual friends were anxious of their arrival.

When he least expected it, the speed demon noticed a familiar girl with azure hair; in the nick of time, he sped down, stopped in front of her, then looked up.

"Ami!"

Both hedgehog and girl were surprised to bump into each other at such an unexpected time.

"Sonic," began Ami.

"Why aren't you with the others?"

"Same thing I wanted to ask you."

"Oh, right."

Ami thought back to her visit to the Hikawa Shrine. She knew Rei felt extremely lonesome without anyone to talk to besides Chad and her grandfather.

"I was on my way, but something told me to visit Rei. She has a terrible cold."

"Really? So that's why she didn't come."

It relieved Sonic to know that nothing worse had happened to the priestess.

"Well, I guess we can be on our way then."

And so Sonic began down the street with Ami beside him.

After meeting up with the others, they would most likely come back to visit Rei. Besides, Sonic needed to return in case Mr. Hino noticed his disappearance.

* * *

**_-Crossroads Beach-_**

Serena reappeared in her sailor fuku, with many alternations and pair of shiny wings on her back; she was now recognized as Eternal Sailor Moon.

After few moments, the replica lost her grip on the whip and caused it to vanish while Sailor Venus's chain returned to her.

She realized that now one more foe had appeared, totaling to three. And they each stood in a line, the one with the long pigtails in the middle.

"How dare you show up and ruin a special get-together for my friends and I? You're going to pay for ruining our day at the beach," Sailor Moon declared in a defiant voice, forming her battle pose.

"I'm Sailor Moon!"

"And we're the sailor scouts, here to help right wrongs and triumph over evil!" Venus and Jupiter added in unison as they stood with their backs against each other.

Since their enemy didn't have a mouth, it kept silent and moved onto raising both of its arms. The replica appeared as if she were preparing something.

The Sailor Scouts acknowledged this and braced themselves to evade or block anything.

Galaxia knew just what her imitation were motioning to do.

Single orbs of copper light originated from each palm of the replica's hands.

As their intensities grew bright, she acted rapid about throwing them directly at her opponents.

Leaping into the air from the set of spheres thrown at them was a simple task. But Sailor Moon and her comrades had taken their power lightly.

"Sailor Scouts! Look behind you!" Artemis hollered.

Each sailor soldier turned their heads to find the same energies returning towards them like boomerangs. They gasped then hurried to dodging them again.

This time when each heroine saved themselves, the evil orbs floated back to the replica's hands and stayed there.

This was what she'd tried to tell them; her attack could never be escaped, and no matter how much they tried, it would keep them locked as targets.

Now Sailor Moon and her team mates needed a sufficient plan. But that was always Sailor Mercury's duty; at least when she were present.

"Hey you guys."

Jupiter narrowed her eyes on their challenge while she spoke.

"I think we should split up."

"But if we do that Jupiter, she'll probably create more of those spheres. Then what'll we do?"

Galaxia could sense the confusion arousing from the Sailor Team. It would only be a matter of time before their enemy obliterated them. Sailor Moon truly did think little of evil.

Sailor Moon wasn't sure how she stumped on the idea, but somehow the bulb in her mind lit up and showered her with a brilliant idea.

"I got it!"

Everyone, even the Moon Cats reacted in wonderment at this statement. Luna was curious to see how their leader would explain because this was her first time.

"Just how does she think she can defeat Nehelenia's creature?" Sailor Galaxia scoffed while placing a hand to her hip.

"What's your plan, Sailor Moon?" asked Luna.

Without responding, Sailor Moon closed her eyes and curled up both of her fists. This left everyone in question while she remained frozen.

Sailor Jupiter and Venus waited for their leader to give a response.

"Sailor Moon..." Luna called in utter worry.

"Luna, I'm trying to think of something that'll make me cry."

'Why would Serena want to cry?'

Sailor Venus needed a better explanation.

They were already without Mars and Mercury. And now Sailor Moon was saying that forming tears was her idea of defeating the monster. What was the world coming to?

'What is wrong with that little brat?' Galaxia laughed to herself.

Sooner or later, the replica would act to sending another attack at them; whatever Sailor Moon was doing she needed to hurry.

Luna decided to recite the girl's phrase in her mind.

Something that would make her cry... just what would occur if Serena started sobbing?

Luna stared at the moon soldier, first noticing the bright crimson accents on her hair odangos. Suddenly the idea came to the Moon animal.

'I get it now! So that was her plan. Great thinking, Sailor Moon!'

The replica finally grew tired of standing and readied herself to throw her same orbs at the sailor scouts. Both Venus and Jupiter shifted their eyes to Sailor Moon who managed to make a tear escape her eye. They were afraid that because her eyes were still shut the pigtailed heroine wouldn't escape in time.

"Sailor Moon, more orbs coming our way!" Jupiter alerted with a quick tone, moving to leap side ward.

The moment the replica waved her arms to swing its spheres of light at her enemies, a brief yet loud sob screeched its eardrums, causing her to stop the process and shield both her ears with her hands. Everyone else did the same, including Galaxia.

So this was Sailor Moon's strategy of winning. It gave her a minor headache.

Supersonic waves emerged from her odango amount depended on how much Sailor Moon wailed. What she'd chosen to cry about must've been awfully horrible for her to bring this much pain even to Galaxia.

Still passing nearby sidewalks, Ami and Sonic covered and held onto their ears while experiencing the share of physical pain.

"Where is that wailing coming from?" Sonic yelled in annoyance.

To learn who was crying so noisily, Ami concentrated on only that person's voice.

"Sailor Moon!"

"Huh?" Sonic replied in a confused manner.

"Come on!"

Ami did her best to move even when her headache was migrating. She continued towards the street leading to the sidewalk with Sonic trailing behind her.

The replica found herself kneeling onto the ground while still holding onto her head gingerly. Jupiter took notice of this and smiled in victory while clutching onto her own head.

In the beginning Artemis, Venus, and her didn't understand where this pain came from, but it was doing a great job with keeping their foe down.

"Look! This mysterious pain is weakening the faceless monster too!"

With more confidence, Sailor Jupiter risked uncovering her ears and straightened her posture while Venus did the same.

To their luck, Serena could hear Jupiter's statement so she silenced herself. This brought relief to everyone including Ami and Sonic.

'What could have triggered those supersonic waves?'

Sailor Galaxia wondered about this.

Now she was the person underestimating somebody else. There was more to Sailor Moon than the golden warrior expected.

"Now, for phase two!" Sailor Moon confirmed.

She extended her arms as if she were holding something in her hands. Then before her comrades eyes appeared an ivory wand topped with magenta jewels, a golden heart shape, and minirature wings below that. It was Sailor Moon's Eternal Scepter.

So this was a weapon of hers; Sailor Galaxia kept this in mind.

Sonic and Ami jogged from around the corner to notice Sailor Moon prepare to use her weapon on some person that'd came from inside of the giant clam behind it. Why that appeared they didn't know, but they knew the replica was to be of no good.

"Huh?"

A heroine like Sailor Moon atonished Sonic. It didn't occur to him that a hero like this existed; with such long hair, a unique uniform, and large feathery wings.

With that last feature, she must have came from a different planet along with her partners equipped in orange and green.

The hedgehog wanted to meet this new female super hero. His gaze remained on only that particular girl.

"Playtime's over, you joke for a manequinn!" declared Sailor Moon, pointing her scepter at the replica with a stern expression. She was busy rising from the ocean floor while recovering at the same time.

Sailor Moon tossed her weapon high into the air, causing it to spin at a fast pace. Then it descended towards her. When Sailor Moon caught it in her right hand, its ornament started to glow a vibrant pink.

Next, the heroine raised the scepter above her head with both hands then began to spin around while doing so.

"STARLIGHT... HONEYMOON... THERAPY... KISS!"

The Eternal Scepter ended up being lifted high above Sailor Moon's head as multiple waves of neon pink streamed towards her foe.

Once they made contact with her body, the replica screamed in agonizing pain as her entire body instantly faded. A darkened glass shard lie on the ground where she once stood. It cracked into smaller pieces then disappeared.

"You've done well for your first enemy, Sailor Moon. But things won't get any easier for you, I promise."

And so Galaxia had witnessed just how capable her enemies were of facing evil. She would definitely think of a plan to change that. The empress vanished with a new task in her mind.

Ami and Sonic stayed where they were and watched the sailor soldiers celebrate their successful win. Right away, there were two faces Sonic recognized and those who were missing.

"So Luna and Artemis know the heroes already?"

"Huh. Oh! Well if they do, I wasn't informed of it!" Ami lied in a nervous tone.

Ami would go along with answering all of the hedgehog's questions. But she wasn't sure if sharing their true identities was a wise option.

For now, Sonic could only wonder about Serena's heroic side.

"Where do you think everybody when went that bad guy appeared?" Sonic continued.

"Probably to the Hikawa Shrine."

Sonic could sense how proud and accomplished Sailor Moon felt by looking at her wide smile and listen to her light squeal.

"Who is that girl by the way?" Sonic asked never moving his eyes.

"Oh, you mean the one with the pigtails? That's Sailor Moon, the Champion of Love and Justice."

The scholar found herself getting carried away with this response but brushed the idea out of her mind, smiling because of it.

"Sailor Moon, huh?" Sonic wondered out loud.

"Yoo hoo! My plan actually worked!" Sailor Moon cheered in total victory.

"Well of course it did. Didn't you have any faith?" replied Luna.

"Well, to be honest, I wasn't sure if my feelings would be strong enough to trigger it."

Luna, Artemis, and the other sailor scouts collapsed to the ground in astoundment. The battle they were in wasn't a time to be taking risks.

"Sailor Moon! You can't be half way certain about things like that. A behavior like that doesn't help you in battles. Still, I am impressed. Using the Supersonic Waves was an excellent idea."

"Supersonic Waves?" Sailor Jupiter asked in curiosity.

"Yes," Luna retorted.

"It's an attack that can only be used when she starts crying. The moment that happens, Sailor Moon's hair accessories amplify the sound of her wailing, making it something that can break a person's eardrum if loud enough."

Artemis was already made aware of this technique, but Venus and Jupiter were speechless and both faced their leader to discuss the topic further.

"That's so cool!" complimented Sailor Jupiter.

"Why didn't you tell us about that sooner? You know how much of an asset that can be to us?" added Sailor Venus with a hand on her hip.

Sailor Moon could feel herself being pressured with this question.

"Because, it didn't come to mind until now. And besides, I don't want to keep using that attack if it hurts you guys too."

"Aww, well we don't mind. Look at how much pain it put the bad guy through," assured Jupiter, placing a arm around her comrade's neck.

"Yeah," Sailor Venus joined with her comment, also placing her arm on Sailor Moon's neck but from the opposite side.

"I'm sure we'll eventually get used to it."

It made Sailor Moon smile along with all of her allies to know this was how much they cared. It was because they all grew to be caring and loving people that they behaved in this manner.

Ami couldn't help but let a tiny smile show on her lips; Sonic also took part in this while folding his arms.

For heroes, Sailor Moon and her friends looked so close. Friendship and teamwork was something absolutely needed when it came to stopping the forces of evil.

"Even after defeating the villain, there's still one more thing that I'm curious to know about," Artemis walked up to Sailor Moon and looked up at her.

"What's that, Artemis?" Sailor Moon asked the male feline.

"What exactly was it that made you cry to the point of wailing?"

A sweat drop appeared on Sailor Moon's head, capturing everyone's attention; a query like Artemis's wasn't expected. She had to be prompt and give him a true answer. Everyone else awaited to hear it.

"You guys really wanna know?" Sailor Moon began rubbing her head sheepishly.

"Yes!" All of the moon scout's friends answered at once.

"Well..."

Because she'd started her response in a low tone, everyone neared themselves closer to hear better.

"I just... tried to imagine what my life would be like without Darien."

At that instant, all of Sailor Moon's friends dropped to the floor again.

Of course Serena wouldn't be herself without Darien. It made her comrades react the way they had for that sole reason. Neither of them were sure what the blond was thinking about to make herself wail so loud. And now she'd given the unexpected secret to them; how thankful Darien would feel to know he was loved this much that Serena used their love to vanquish evil.

Sonic and Ami both noticed Sailor Moon's friends rise from the floor for a second time. They became interested to know what was being said exactly as sweat drops of their own formed on their heads.

"Hmm," Venus placed a hand on Sailor Moon's shoulder with an embarrassed expression.

"Not what we had expected but still a good one."

"Well, that IS something that can push you to your limit," Sailor Jupiter added.

"Everyone is unique in their own way, right Artemis?"

With the same face as Mina, Luna sat beside the white feline while placing this question on him.

"Yep. You can say that again."

Sonic could see Sailor Moon scratching her head in a sheepish manner again. She and the other heroes still looked like they were enjoying each others presences.

And speaking of that, Ami and him should return to check on Rei.

"Hey Ami. Shouldn't we wait for Luna and Artemis?"

"No, they'll be alright. In the meantime we need to see if Rei is feeling any better."

"Right."

After Sonic nodded his head, Ami and him turned away and started down the same street they came from.

While pacing, Sonic found himself taking a final look at the Sailor Scouts; mainly Sailor Moon.

'Sailor Moon... someday, we'll become great friends and fight by each other's side!'


	6. Chapter 6

**_-Angel Island-_**

When Tails thought about it, this was his first time having the chance to study Angel Island's exotic jungle. And not only was the exploration captivating, but the chirps of birds and warmth pouring from the afternoon sun put him to serenity.

Any other day, he'd have to also deal with Eggman or fasten the pace with his tinkering. Today however, he was taking a break from all of that. Whatever came to the fox's mind when he strolled through this rainforest, he would jot thoughts down on his handy-dandy notepad.

Tails motioned his pencil to begin a new sentence.

"What?"

This loud outburst caused Tails to ruin his first letter. Flickies could be seen flying from under different treetops. Why was it that this reaction came from out of the mouth of a familiar hedgehog?

Quickly, Tails ran back to the Emerald Altar where he last saw this preteen and found her upset at Knuckles.

Amy couldn't believe what her red friend had just explained to her.

"Don't fuss at me about it," Knuckles insisted, "Why don't you ask Sonic why he didn't pay for the damages when he had the money?"

"Huh?" Tails didn't understand any of this one bit.

Treading up the staircase to rejoin his pals, he heard Amy declare, "Then maybe I will!"

She rushed down the stairs almost knocking Tails down. Her anger really had been blown like a bomb fuse thanks to learning her blue hero's whereabouts.

"Uhh, is Amy alright?" Tails finally approached Knuckles.

"No. I told her why Sonic hasn't left Crossroads City. I hope he has health insurance because Amy's pretty fired up."

"Wait! Why 'is' he still there?"

As true as the echidna's story was, he disliked narrating it. It brought him frustration to think back on how he'd ended up as a Shinto Trainee; and to think he would've had to work til an unpredictable date while the Master Emerald was completely unguarded.

"Well, long story short, me and him damaged someone's temple gate, he found the money to repair it, but spent it on something else, so he's still working for it."

Tails indeed saw that the Master Emerald couldn't guard itself. Still, the young boy began to feel as if he should play a role in helping Sonic work for the shrine.

"I see... thanks for the info, Knuckles."

"No problem."

Without further ado, Tails headed to his plane, opened the cockpit, and hopped inside the seat in front of Amy's.

"We don't have all day, Tails!"

As things were bad enough, Amy's impatience only made the situation three times worse.

So Tails started the engine, pulled the lever, and started pedaling to ascend and fly.

* * *

**_-Crossroads City-_**

Serena, Mina, and Lita could say they were glad Ami led Sonic away from the beach when evil came forth. He was of good heart, but that didn't prepare the girls to share their heroic secrets with him so soon.

Because high school began, they had to start on their homework.

If getting to finally start school meant recieving a pile of homework, Lita didn't care. It was six more days until she could chat with her friends in the hallways during break, and eat lunch together in the giant cafeteria. Her past mistakes had taught her a valuable lesson, and so it was only a matter of being patient.

Ami finished her assignments, so the scholar would walk Sonic back to the Hikawa Shrine then be on her way to the public library.

"So you're the only one coming with me?" Sonic asked Ami.

"Yes. I've already completed my homework, so I have lots of free time. After we reach the temple, I'm going to spend some time at the library"

"Well that's great that you stay on top of your schoolwork! And you like the library, huh?" Sonic gave a tiny smile.

"Thanks. And yes, reading books is my most favorite thing to do."

After carrying this segment of the conversation with Ami, Sonic realized there was more to the azure-haired girl than he thought.

"Hmm... you know what? I think you and Tails would get along great since you both are geniuses. Plus I think he likes reading sometimes too."

"I told him about my interests when we were on the beach. He says soon he'll teach me about machinery," Ami smiled in agreement.

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

After sipping her measured medicine, Rei slowly drank her cup of water while sitting on the edge of her bed. The sneezing hadn't vanished yet, but she wouldn't let that keep her from fire-reading.

For all the priestess knew, the spiritual embers could have been trying to give her another vision; possibly about their newest foe.

As if on routine, Rei lit the ceremonial fireplace with a small match then sat in front of it with her legs crossed.

Before looking into the fire's heart, Rei began with chanting the "Symbol of Nine Protective Characters", a Chinese phrase known to be used as an ancient tailsman.

"Rin, Hyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Chin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!" She remembered each symbol perfectly as she formed them with her fingers.

Often times, the young woman didn't go into a fire-reading session without seeing a revelation, so she waited with her eyes closed.

Part of this activity required Rei to take her mind off the outside world and place it into the fire.

The longer Rei gazed into the blazing flames, the sooner a sihoulette in the shape of a female appeared with multiple birds flying around them. In a way, it resembled her.

This didn't lead her so much to accepting it, but it made enough sense. Phobos and Deimos were two of the 'ravens' she took care of. Still, that didn't explain why about thirty more appeared in this fire's illustration.

The image began to fade into the flames. "This vision isn't like the others I've recieved before... why am I surrounded by so many birds?"

Immediately, the Hino daughter's mind turned to her pet birds.

At this time, the feathered pair was outside cleansing themselves in the birdbath.

Rei didn't waste a second with getting up and hurrying towards this destination. She slid every door without bothering to shut them. Her winged friends most certainly served a purpose to her vision now.

To the psychic's surprise, both ravens were fine.

They sensed their owner's presence and ceased bathing to see what she wanted.

"Hey, you two. I see you were both busy with your bird bath," Rei smiled as she pet both ravens.

Even as things stood, she couldn't let that sihoulette slide past her. Something 'would' happen, to her animals, and most likely her.

Every moment starting from now was the time to be extra cautious with eyes peeled for suspicious action.

"Rei!" A familiar voice called her name.

Seconds later, Grandpa Hino approached her with important news.

"Grandpa! What's up?"

"We have some visitors who say they want to become Shinto Trainees for our shrine."

"What?" Rei had to find out just who these visitors were. For the last nine months, Chad had been the one and only volunteer. And on few other occasions, Serena and her friends helped when asked, but that was it.

Rei walked past her grandfather to find an unexpected pair standing in front of their broken gate. To see them reminded the teenager of the discussion she shared with her friends yesterday where Ami and Mina recalled seeing beings who looked like Sonic.

So the individuals standing here must've been the ones Mina and Ami pointed out. The pink hedgehog looked upset while the yellow fox was trying to calm her down.

"Hello," Rei ignored the girl's anger, "Are you both friends of Sonic's?"

"Yes, and we were wondering if we could talk to him, if he's not busy with anything that is," replied Tails.

"Sure, just wait here while I go look for him."

Rei didn't know what Sonic's friends wanted to see him for, but requesting to help him was a good thing.

Since Knuckles left, there was room for just one more tenant. And Sonic's arrival wasn't planned to begin with, so this situation was a giant mess; something Rei and her grandfather had no choice but to clean up.

Sonic's eavesdropping from behind the front door was so oblivious. Having learned of Amy's appearance, the blue male felt it necessary to hide. He knew she would be frustrated with his long absence. It'd always been this way whenever the rose wasn't informed of how he was faring.

The hedgehog's first choice was to go inside the bathroom, but Chad to enter it.

Great.

The other room closest was the kitchen, so Sonic hurried and closed himself inside one of the cabinets.

Sounds of footsteps entered the atmosphere. For a priestess, Rei was precise on picking up presences.

But as long as she didn't open the cabinets with pots and pans, then her furry friend was safe.

"Did she know I was trying to hide?"

Sonic wouldn't take Rei for granted. Even if he was the fastest thing alive, he wasn't quick enough to predict the future or feel an aura.

The same footsteps moved closer. Sweat beaded down his face; though he would laugh once he learned who actually was making their way around the room.

"Hmmmm... I remember coming in here to make some tea."

"Phew..." Sonic thought while wiping his brow, "It's just Grandpa Hino."

Rei's guardian without his blurry vision looked around the room in wonderance of where the items to make himself tea were.

Rei was the person kept the kitchen organized, and so she knew where everything was.

"Grandpa!"

Sonic almost jumped at the loudness of the priestess's voice.

Her grandpa turned his face to where her voice came from and remained still as she walked up to him.

"Do you know where Sonic went? Those visitors outside are friends of his so they need to speak with him."

"Oh. You didn't find him sweeping the hallways?"

"No."

In an instant, Rei's tone changed. "Wait, what are you doing in here by yourself?"

"To make some tea of course."

"Grandpa, you know you can't see anything without your glasses. And I like to be in here with you so that you don't make a mess or burn yourself. Here," Rei retrieved a pair of prescription glasses from her shirt, "Could you put these on so you can help me find Sonic?"

"Alright, but I really wanted some tea."

"I promise I'll make some after we find Sonic."

Both relatives motioned to leaving the kitchen as their target laid right under their noses.

Sonic knew how much confusion aroused since he were still hidden. But Amy's wrath was more than a passable reason to excuse himself.

* * *

This long wait... what was taking that girl so much time to finding Sonic? This shrine 'was' his temporary home, according to Knuckles.

"That girl sure is taking her time with finding Sonic." Maybe Tails was content with stating this, but Amy wouldn't stand frozen for another minute.

She snatched her younger pal by the hand and began for the front door.

"Wait!" Tails freed his arm, "We can't just storm inside their house!"

"Then do you have any brighter ideas? I'm tired of waiting," Amy placed her hands on her waist.

The next thing she knew though, a shaggy haired man known as Chad was giving them a tour of the entire temple. For personal reasons they didn't step into Rei's room.

And so the last area to be visited was the kitchen.

Sonic's fur became damp with sweat, given how much time he'd spent sealed inside this cabinet.

"... maybe I could crack this door open and get some air."

At the sound of a faint creak, Amy moved her jade-green eyes to a cabinet that 'appeared' to open by itself; pretty suspicious if anyone asked her.

* * *

"How could you?"

With all of her strength, Amy swung her hammer at Sonic and ignored his pleading.

"Amy, I know what I did was silly, but we can settle this without fighting!"

Unfortunately for Sonic, the younger hedgehog carried extra reasons for her behavior.

"No! There's nothing you can say to get out of 'this one'!" Amy made another strike but missed again, "Not only did you hide from us, but you ran off without saying anything! All because you have to work off money for someone's temple gate that you and Knuckles destroyed? Tails or me could have came up with the cash and you wouldn't have to stay here!"

This was exactly what he hadn't wanted to unleash. But Sonic knew Amy too well to say she wouldn't get mad.

Tails, Rei, and Chad watched this fiasco from the veranda. And of course Tails was embarrassed; for people of a well-mannered and peaceful shrine to witness such violence... and from Amy who was a generally kind-hearted person.

Grandpa Hino was too distracted with sipping his prepared black tea. Chad couldn't imagine how the elder didn't move a muscle or speak. Maybe he was used to seeing things like Sonic and Amy's argument take place. Or maybe he was again just too entranced by the piping hot taste of his tea since he'd taken his glasses off.

But Rei... she'd had just about enough and let herself in between the pink and blue hedgehogs.

"Stop it, both of you! If you're going to fight then take your problems somewhere else! This isn't the place for that."

Amy was about to whack Sonic when Rei gave the best advice.

"Works for me! Come on, Sonic! Let's finish this outside the city."

Knowing he would have to leave, Tails said good-bye to the Hino household, then started after his friends with Sonic walking beside him.

As his first year living at this shrine, Chad had to admit this was the worst situation he'd ever seen.

"Rei... what just happened?"

A loud sneeze escaped the shrine maiden's nose before she could answer Chad's question. "I don't know, but it better get settled with soon... Sonic still has a lot of work to do, and he better be grateful his friends' have decided to help him."

As things stood, the shrine hadn't made expected profit with their charms and tailsman stickers. Secondly, because their gate was destroyed, their funds wouldn't be able to cover their house necessities 'and' the gate at the same time; leaving them with the no options but to spend money more cautiously and be low on food.

Knowing all of their new trainees would return soon, Rei and Chad went back inside the shrine to each do their own things. Chad let himself inside the kitchen to cook himself some plain Ramen, whereas Rei ended up sitting on her bed in a bored manner.

Although Sonic'd kept his word, things would brighten up if Knuckles at least said where he ran off to. The echidna was lucky Rei didn't notice his escape or it would have turned into a highspeed chase.

Before she could give the situation anymore thought, a ringing noise came from the hallway.

"I'll get it!" Rei yelled out.

The shrine maiden entered the hallway, grabbed the phone from the wall, and placed it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Rei? Hey, this is Lita. I just wanted to see how that same cold was treating you. Any better?"

After sneezing yet again, Rei answered, "Yeah, I'm steadily getting better. How is that Chocolate Swirl Cake idea of yours coming along?"

During their talk, Lita was in the kitchen sittiring the batter for this apparent dessert. "Well so far I'm just stirring the batter. After it's all done, I thought about decorating it with cake icing flowers."

"Great idea!" Rei flashed a smile on her end, "And while you're at it, maybe you should practice more with other desserts. People love things like that."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

"So would you be free after you're finished with your cake?"

"Um, yeah, pretty much. What's up?"

"I wanna talk to you and the others about something that just happened here, a little over a while ago." Rei knew she could go to her friends for anything, and so the event lingering on her mind was no exception.

"Was it something bad?"

"Sorta, but don't worry. For now just finish your dessert and call back when you're done."

"Alright."

Lita made a quiet sigh as she hung up her phone and returned to the counter. If the news Rei had was serious, then why was she putting it on hold? This wasn't in the priestess's character to do.

"I wonder exactly what happened. Could she have been exaggerating?"

At a loss of words, the baker poured her cake mix into a silver pan then set the dish into the pre-heated oven. "Well, I'll figure it out once I call her back."

And with that, the oven door was closed.


	7. Chapter 7

About half an hour later, Lita finished her pastry and cut a slice for herself to try. In the end, it's taste came out perfect.

Her friends were the only people she could think of sharing the rest with, so she wrapped her cake in foil, put it inside her fridge, cleaned up the kitchen, then returned to her phone.

* * *

**_-Serena's House-_**

"Finally! I'm finished with this homework!" Serena heaved a large sigh as she slammed her geometry book shut, almost scaring Luna.

"If you're going to be glad you finished your homework, then please try to be more quiet about it."

Serena noticed her feline companion hop onto her desk and take a seat beside her math book.

"I'm sorry, Luna. It's just that this is still all new to me, ya' know?"

"That's how it's supposed to work. It's not junior high where you had more chances to do extra credit."

"Well I wish it was!" Serena groaned in despair.

Suddenly a ringing noise filled the room, so Serena hurried for her corded phone beside her bed and answered it. "Hello?... you mean we're talking in a five way?"

Luna stayed silent as she would soon figure out who the caller was.

"Awesome!" Serena continued, "So what're we gonna talk about?"

Along the way, Luna felt the conversation were to be nothing more than a girl chat.

"What? And this happened when?" she heard Serena ask.

Thought by the young woman's concerned tone, what was a normal discussion became very serious.

Luna perked her ears in curiosity and joined Serena on the mattress.

Rei answered Serena's question with, "Almost an hour ago," before going into depth with her story.

All of her friends were shocked to hear about Amy fighting Sonic because he didn't inform the pink girl about his Shinto Trainee job.

"How dramatic!" Serena commented.

"So he never let his friends know why he was staying here?" Lita spoke next.

"Apparently not. My grandpa would've had a fit if he saw their fight, but Chad fixed him a cup of tea."

Rei's buddies nodded in response of this.

Then Mina queried with, "So did they tell you where they were going?"

"No, but I hope Sonic comes back soon. It was hard enough convincing my grandpa that Knuckles didn't actually leave."

"Wait, he's not there anymore? When did 'he' leave?"

"Sometime yesterday. Sonic told me he had some 'unfinished' business to take care of," Rei explained with an evident anger.

By the sounds of all these details the priestess gave, Serena and the others could think of only one thing: these anthropomorhpic individuals wrecked Hikawa Shrine's ancestral gate, but had other affairs to deal with. It really was a gigantic mess.

"Rei, I think you're not being strict enough with these guys," Serena thought out loud.

"Not strict enough...?"

Each of Serena's friends were surprised by this sudden seriousness in the pigtailed-girl's words.

"Yeah! I say tell Sonic to find Knuckles and bring him back so they can finish what they started."

Rei had to remind herself that this was the same Serena Tsukino they all knew and loved now giving this mature advice.

After a few moments of silence, Lita added, "Sounds like a plan to me. And you could still let Amy and Tails help out too."

Ami especially liked the sound of this idea. "I agree with Lita on that."

Recruiting two more trainees with the addition of Knuckles's return would be promising. There would be more assistance so Rei could focus more on her homework from her private school, including more breaks for Grandpa Hino and Chad.

However, an earlier issue managed to crawl its way into Rei's mind. "Wait, you guys. We have to remember that there're only two guest bedrooms."

"Oh..." responded Ami, "Well that changes everything."

With how efficient their plan seemed, all the girls now tried to think of a solution.

"I got it!"

Everyone grew curious as Mina gave this loud statement.

"What if I had Amy stay with me?"

"Huh?" Not on the telephone call, Artemis had to hear what his friend said again. His puzzled tone was heard, so everyone knew he'd entered Mina's room.

"What did I hear about Amy just now?"

"You know, the pink hedgehog we met earlier at the beach," Mina clarified her words.

"So why would she stay here?"

"I'll tell you when I get off the phone."

Artemis knew the blonde's chat wouldn't end anytime soon, so he jumped onto her bed and laid down.

The snowy feline watched Mina continue her discussion as she appeared to be assuring someone that her plan would succeed. Just how much of the talk had Artemis missed, and why was Mina being so persistent?

"Well, I hope so. Amy's twelve, so you'd be like her babysitter," Rei confirmed.

"Yeah, but it can't be that hard to watch her. At the beach she seemed unlike most kids we know."

Mina wouldn't know about the way Rei sighed at this overconfident remark of hers. Clearly Mina wasn't thinking the situation through enough.

Keeping Artemis wasn't a handful, but a preteen girl... very much a different story.

"So now that we have the situation of Amy covered, I guess that means Tails will be staying with us at the shrine. And when Sonic comes back, I'll share the plan with him," concluded Rei.

* * *

**_-Ice Cream Parlor-_**

Located inside an ice cream shoppe, Rini happily ate her banana sundae while Darien sat across from her with his chocolate malt.

As Serena described, Rini had been a huge distraction while she tried to finish her homework, so the future-dad volunteered to take their daughter out to get something sweet.

Before she forgot, the little girl reminded Darien about her friends she made at the beach hours ago.

"Earlier I made some new friends at the beach."

"Really? What are their names?"

"Amy, Cream, Tails, and Sonic. But Sonic wasn't there the whole time, so I didn't get a chance to talk to him."

In truth, Darien never heard names like these given to him. He'd have to ask Serena about these characters.

"Rini, do you know where these friends of yours live?"

"Well, not really," Rini looked away nervously, "But Sonic is staying with Rei, so I could ask him."

This Sonic guy was staying with Rei?

Now Darien really needed answers, but he couldn't keep asking Rini.

* * *

**_-Green Plains-_**

The open plain's trees swayed in the wind; the sun sat on the horizon while reds, pinks, oranges, and purples shown across the sky. All of this was a scene to be considered romantic, but not anything that lurked in Amy Rose's mind as of now.

Sonic had dodged each and every one of her piercing blows, doing his best to avoid the subject most important to her.

Standing feet away from him while panting, Amy watched her blue friend stay quiet. He just stood there, as if it were her turn to speak. And by the look on his face, the speedster was concerned. But Amy dealt with enough quietness.

"Stop staring at me like that!" the hedge-girl shook her head, "Why are you staring at me like 'I' did something wrong... y-you're the wrong one here!"

To make matters weirder, his tone was calm and low. "I'm sorry for forgetting to let you guys know what happened. Knuckles left, so I couldn't leave."

"But it's not fair! You shouldn't have to work there by yourself. Why didn't you really tell anyone?"

"Because, 'I'm' the one who has to deal with it. You and Tails weren't to blame."

"But you don't have to deal with it alone."

This reply confused Sonic. And out of nowhere, Tails appeared beside Amy with a worried look on his face.

"Tails asked if we could help work for the gate money so they can have it fixed. That way you don't have to stay there for so long."

"Oh..."

Already carrying this knowledge prepared Sonic for his next words. If his friends were both this determined to help him, then how could he say no? They 'were' two of his closest and loyal friends after all.

Both fox and hedgehog awaited Sonic's response with patience; until he made a toothy grin and showed a thumbs up. "Well, let's ask Rei where you two can sign up!"

The fastest thing alive's pals grew so estatic to hear this answer.

Tails laughed with a bright smile while Amy shouted his name and tackled the older hedgehog into a squeezing embrace.

Everything for the rosy rascal felt different now. She'd found her dreamy rescuer and would get to assist him with working for the Hikawa Shrine.

Even if the situation were smaller than battling Doctor Eggman, Tails would make himself available as well.

On the verge of losing oxygen, Sonic untied his fangirl's arms from around him and rose to his feet. It was always the same routine when she grabbed him.

It wasn't until Amy stood up that she realized the day coming to an end. "Wow, that sunset is so beautiful!"

Sonic and Tails agreed with the pink hedgegirl on this, then started to view the glowing sunset for themselves.

"Yep, you could say that again!"

Amy turned to the male who spoke with this upbeat tone and discovered just how entranced the sunset made him. The sun's gleam made his eyes look like that of actual priceless emeralds. His facial features appeared more handsome than usual also.

"I'm so happy that I'll get to help Sonic out with this temple business." As she thought this, Amy kept her smile on Sonic. "We all knew Knuckles wouldn't stay and do his part, but that doesn't matter anymore. Tails and I will be the ones to help this time!"

Indeed the Blue Blur was grateful that his cohorts were willing to also become Shinto Trainees. It would make his work lesser on his end, and he wouldn't have to be alone.

Sonic's name was called as he turned to lead the way back to their new home.

"Promise you'll tell me about the next time something like this happens. No one could figure out where you ran off to."

As these gentle words of Amy's were acknolwedged, she found her role model flashing an assuring grin then declaring it were time to head on out.

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

Sharing the day's event with her best friends left Rei feeling more at ease. She didn't have to worry much about Sonic's personal life and could look more at her shrine's new helpers. Hopefully the twin-tailed kitsune and pink hedgehog were totally commited to work, and not perform a disappearing act like Knuckles.

After taking the fifth tissue from her Kleenex Box, Rei heard someone knock on her door; none other than the guy she wanted to see, with both Amy and Tails on each side.

"Welcome back," Rei began with calmness, "So did you guys work things out?"

"Yeah. We decided to stay here and help Sonic work for the gate damages," explained Amy.

"I'm glad to hear that, but um... there's only room for one more tenant to stay here."

Immediately Amy and her friends all looked at each other. Sonic knew in his heart that he'd like to have both Tails and Amy stay, but now there had to be a selection.

This was Tails's longtime buddy he might stay with. On the other hand, Amy'd known Sonic for a long time also; by now their friendship was going onto five years.

She could see it all now... greeting Sonic with a sweet, "Good morning!", cooking his breakfast, enjoying delightful afternoons with him, making his dinner, telling him, "Good night!", and repeating this schedule over and over again.

"Uh, Ames?" a gloved finger poked her shoulder until Amy regained consciousness. After two seconds, she heard Rei say, "You know, Amy, Mina volunteered for you to stay with her."

* * *

**_-Crossroads City-_**

"I'm sure there was a better plan Rei could've came up with!"

As the sun traded places with the moon and the only sources of light were oncoming lampposts, Amy walked down the sidewalk with brown suitcases in each hand.

A lone insect made its way towards the street light which Amy was soon approaching. To the fly, this lamp was so hypnotic and appealing. But Amy didn't show the least bit interest, as she were too intoxicated with other things.

"I expected to stay at the shrine too! Why does Tails get to stay and not me?"

If not for their friendship, Amy would have been mad and tried anything to switch places with the fox genius. But sadly, there was nothing she could do but keep along the street and get situated with her chosen home.

The feline walking beside her helplessly became worried. For almost twenty minutes now since their departure from Rei's place, Artemis hadn't been spoken to.

"It's almost been half an hour and she hasn't said a word at all." Artemis looked up at Amy; and when the cat did, he saw an utmost despair through her cute frown "...should I ask her what's wrong?"

From what Artemis heard about this Amy Rose, he knew sparking her temper would be like asking for a visit to the hospital. Although right now... none of those angers or urges to be violent shown through her.

Artemis clearing his throat somehow caught her attention.

"So um, if you don't mind me asking, Amy... is something bothering you?"

This question carried such a thoughtfulness and concern to it.

"It's alright if you don't want to talk about it-"

"No..." Amy sighed in self-defeat, "It'll actually help if I share it with someone."

Normally, the young girl would cover her inside feelings with a smile, but with Artemis and his deep worry, being secretive was no use.

So after narrating her situation, Artemis had a most clear idea and knew how to respond.

"Well living with Mina isn't so bad. Once you get to know her, she's a really nice girl."

Because the moon cat sounded sure of himself, that piqued Amy's interest to ask him a question.

"Artemis? How long have you stayed with Mina?"

"Me? Well, it's been a really long time I can say that. We've been together even before she moved here."

"You mean you guys never always lived out here in Tokyo? Where did you live before?"

Seeing her newfound enthusiasm, Artemis smiled and gladly finished on with this new conversation of theirs.

"We used to stay all the way in London."

"London? Really, that's so far away! I'd love to go there and do some sightseeing. Tell me, what's London like?"

Artemis didn't expect one of his newest friends to be 'this' curious about his and Mina's last home. He couldn't leave Amy hanging, but at the same time didn't feel comfortable describing it.

All the feline felt comfortable mentioning was the activities London had, the scenic views, and sorts of resturants they carried. This information happened to be enough for Amy, and that was just perfect.

After answering the front door, Mina greeted Amy with a wide smile and let her in, offering to carry her bags and setting them by the closet, then brewing up a conversation as the hedgehog took off her shoes and sat on her bed.

"So I hear you and Tails are going to be helping Sonic work at the Hikawa Shrine."

"Yes." Amy let out a yawn, politely covering her mouth. "It's the least we can do since our friend Knuckles ditched out on him."

"You mean the red echidna?" Mina pulled out her computer chair and sat down. "He never said a word to us, so it's hard to say what I think of him."

"He's always been the quiet type. But he's not necessarily cruel either. It's just that he hates to show his soft side."

As Amy giggled over this topic, so did Mina.

The whole time, Artemis listened while eating his Catnip on the carpet floor.

After ceasing her laughter, Mina replied, "I see. Amy, do you like shopping?"

"Do I? Of course! Every girl needs their own fashion sense!"

"Then maybe tomorrow after school we could stop by the mall. My dad sent me a check that's over five-hundred dollars, so we're set."

"Then it's settled, because I have money with me too!"

With a shopping spree planned, Amy completely forgot being upset. She would get to better her wardrobe, 'and' with someone she could 'totally' relate to.

* * *

**_-Hang Castle-_**

After this night drew to a close... once everything was set in good order and arrivals showed up... the battle to shape her future would commence.

The Dead Moon Empress stood now in front of her hundreds of Mirror Paredi's, silent because of deep thought; while they remained hushed for their leader's speech.

She parted her rose-stained lips.

"My minions... tomorrow is the battle that decides who will take over the world... me, or that egg headed buffoon who calls himself a genius!" Nehelenia looked away with a hint of sadness before her next words. "It's true, I 'have' failed once before... but not this time! 'This' time Sailor Moon will be destroyed for good, and then 'I' will have the Silver Imperium Crystal!"

The Mirror Paredi colony began cheering on their master as she'd encouraged them and lifted their spirits just now. There was no reason for them to fear the Doctor Eggman and whatever tatics he unveiled.

Nehelenia was only closer to victory now that her army was pepped up with the necessary confidence.

However, from out of nowhere, a shining golden light formed out of nothing and blinded everyone. And once Nehelenia uncovered her face to see whatwelcomed itself inside her castle, she grew shocked and speechless altogether.

"Galaxia...!"

The figure whose named was called just could be seen floating in the air with a golden-yellow aura encasing her. Her face explained her ignited anger and disappointment, along with her arms crossed defiantly.

"'Your' Silver Imperium Crystal?" Galaxia's feet touch the ground as her response had only begun. "It will not be you who kills Sailor Moon or steals her crystal! I shall be the one to inherit it all!"

Without warning, the shining warrior threw a pair of gold orb blasts at Nehelenia, missing each time but causing the woman to fall down.

She had no idea in the world that her superior would appear like this. The speech just given to her minions meant nothing now as Sailor Galaxia had now heard it; the youma made to be her twin worsening her reputation.

As her glow intensified, the strongest of Sailor Scouts continued, "This whole time you've went behind my back and plotted to have everything for yourself... well you are a wretched fool if you think I'll just sit back and not do anything!"

With this next light attack, Nehelenia was hit and collasped back to the ground. The Mirror Paredi's decided it was time to defend their loyal and faithful queen, so they raised their sharp nails and locked onto Galaxia.

The gold soldier was just as eager for combat.

A sword appeared in her right hand whereas feathery wings similar to Eternal Sailor Moon's sprouted from her back like elegant flowers.

As for the blade in her fierce grip, it was silver; the hilt was colored gold with tiny rubies and sapphires decorated around it.

What was expected finally occurred, as Galaxia like a womanly Valkerie flew towards her challengers and let her sword take itself into each oncoming foe.

Nehelenia could do nothing but watch her fighters shatter like porcelain dolls and fall to the ground in countless pieces. Galaxia's power was not to be underestimated. Her annihilating each Paredi looked so easy.

But they didn't stop. More and more attempted to strike her down with their fearsome nails, but her evasion and offense patterns were too skillful to reach past.

As the last of her creations had been broken, Nehelenia gasped. The pieces of her minions laid across the courtyard like a mess someone left and didn't go back to.

Then the one and only came towards the helpless queen with their blade shimmering in victory.

"Well..." Galaxia placed her sword just an inch away from Nehelenia's neck, frightening the poor female and making her pupils shrink with utmost fear.

"I suppose now 'I' should be the one cheering about my future plans for this planet."

To think everything would've been hers... but Nehelenia made her mistake when she forgot her place was. Now all the royalty could do was look up at her superior with hot tears and an intent to beg for mercy.

"I hold a great hate for Sailor Moon, but you..." in nothing but a flash, Galaxia plunged her sword into Nehelenia's flesh, leaving the disgraceful figure with nothing but a final breath. "I absolutely, loathe you."


	8. Chapter 8

**_-Near Carnival Night City-_**

By this time almost everyone was fast asleep under their blankets, except for a single rabbit mother.

Vanilla spent a somewhat of her night reading a chapter book with the lamp turned on to help her see the words. It was quiet moments like these she wanted to do her hobby. But as the adult didn't expect, Vanilla's children called and surprised her with such a frightened tone that she let her book drop inside her lap. Their faces looked so damp with tears.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Vanilla asked as Cream buried her face into her chest. "Did you and Cheese have trouble sleeping?"

Cheese stayed hovering beside Cream as the child rose and looked up at her parent.

"Yes... everything was fine until we had a scary nightmare!"

"Chao chao chao!"

"Both of you shared the same dream?" After Cream nodded, Vanilla continued, "What was it about?"

The scary nightmare turned out to be about a queen and her minions being killed by the higher person they apparently worked under. What horrified Cream and Cheese the most was how the queen suffered her death, how they could witness her blood spill to the ground... and the satisfaction on her murderer's face.

When was a person ever supposed to be happy about ending someone's life? It didn't make any sense.

By the end of their narration, more tears rolled down Cream's face. Cheese wiping his cheeks with his stubby told that he didn't have just the average nightmare, where someone might've dream about falling into an endless pit or seeing everyone turn against you. This... this horrific episode about a female kiiling the other... it wasn't something niether of Vanilla's children should have ever dreamed about.

"Oh my..." Vanilla covered her mouth, set both Cream and Cheese on her lap then wrapped them into a motherly embrace. "Dearest... it sounds to me like you should inform Sonic of this. He'll know what to do, "I'm sure of it. But in the meantime, I'd like you and Cheese to try going back to sleep."

"Yes, mother."

Similar to the moments before Vanilla was interrupted, the rest of the night stayed mute, but now Cream and Cheese's nightmare brought gloom and worry into the Rabbit household. Vanilla couldn't even finish her book; she had to keep the bookmark on her page and finish it some other time.

Before going to bed herself, the woman stepped into Cream's room and noticed how fast asleep the girl went. This brought relief, yet not enough when there still existed the matter of that nightmare.

"Dreams about women fighting each other... that isn't normal at all! There must be some way I can find out why my babies had dreams like that."

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

Because of her terrible cold, Rei had the tendency to wake up with a nose that always needed blowing. So the teenager rose and started to grab a tissue from her Kleenex, but something about her room looked very odd today.

For the strangest reason, four magical pendants lay in front of her on the bed.

"Huh? These look like..." After some thought, Eternal Sailor Moon came to mind. The moon scout's locket didn't contrast in much appearance at all from these; and they didn't come in just any colors; but one were red, another blue, the third orange, and last as green. What was this all supposed to mean?

"Rei?" called her grandfather as he knocked on the door.

The sounds of this had almost made Rei jump in fear. She couldn't possibly let anyone sees these transformation brooches lying on her bed.

"Are you awake?"

"Yes, I just woke up!" Rei hid each locket under her pillow.

"Sonic would like to come in and talk with you!"

"Um, that's fine!" Before continuing, the priestess hurried to her wardrobe and slipped her robe on. "Tell him he can come in now!"

So it seemed the situation of the brooches would have to be dealt with later.

When Sonic was allowed in, Rei took her seat on her bed while Sonic remained standing.

"Sorry I came in so early. There's just somethin' I need to get out of my head."

With her attention nowhere on Sonic, Rei retorted, "Oh, don't worry, just say what's on your mind."

It hadn't been just a coincidence for those heart-shaped lockets to appear in her room. Someone the Sailor Scouts knew must've somehow delivered them as a means to show that they should begin preparing for the worst.

And this whole time, Sonic didn't sense Rei's lack of attention, but concerned with getting his point across.

"Well, I was just gonna say I'm sorry if that present I got ya' rubbed you the wrong way."

The present...

That was right, Rei realized in her mind. She had to at least acknowledge 'this' issue for Sonic's sake.

The maiden sighed at her reaction over his offering her that same ring; then replied, "No, I should be the one who's sorry. You bought me a gift and I didn't show any thanks for it." She looked away as that past event tried to return and haunt her. "Because of that, you probably think I'm always a grouch but-"

"No." Rei turned an astonished face to Sonic as he surprised her with this remark.

"I never figured you to be that way."

"... really?"

"Yeah! Sure, you're hard on me about the house chores, but I know you do that because you want your gate fixed fast. Nothing I wouldn't understand. Speed's my middle name!"

These words of Sonic's... Rei had to admit they were the kindest and most sincere ones he'd ever said to her. This whole time, he'd been a hardworking trainee. But nonethheless she treated him harsh. And why? Because he made her upset about destroying theshrine's gate? Because of how the situation with the ring made things look?

Sonic was no deliquent or someone who used flattery... but just a laidback dude who was friendly and wanted to only get along with any many people as possible. It'd taken Rei this long to see that, but she wouldn't act stubborn anymore.

"T-thank you..." a tiny smile crept onto her lips.

"No problem, anytime!" Sonic smiled back.

The conversation carried a short muteness before Rei parted her lips.

"I appreciate what you've done for us up until now, but I still don't see why Knuckles left," a tiny frown showed on the Hino daughter's face, "He was responsible for that gate too."

"Yeah well, by now I'm sure you have a great idea of how he is," Sonic could only shrug his shoulders.

"But do you at least know why he can't come back?"

"Well... it's a story that we'd need more time to sit down and talk about I can tell ya' that much."

As much as Rei wanted to get into this topic, there still was the matter of the transformation brooches...

"Okay, but I really need to know."

"Gotcha."

Out of nowhere Rei found herself sneezing, having to wipe her nose, and let the next person who knocked on her door in. It was none other than Tails with his bold cerulean eyes.

"Mornin', Tails!" Sonic greeted his best friend.

"Good morning Sonic, and Rei. I realized Sonic wasn't in his room, so I decided to look in here for him."

"Well, he just came by to tell me something, but we finished that discussion just now," Rei rose from her matress, "While I make breakfast could you two wipe the floors in the hallway and outside on the porch? And Sonic, this time don't zip through it like you tried yesterday."

Thinking back on that attempt made the speedster rub his head sheepishly.

In the past, Chad had began to walk down the hallway with everyone's bath towels after taking them from the dryer. And Sonic being the blur he is had zipped along the floor and almost knocked Chad down along with the towels; so Rei meant it when she reminded him of this fatal mistake now.

"Heh heh heh... alright, I'll try to slown down, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that too There's never any reason to rush through work."

And so after everyone left Rei's bedroom, their daily tasks began.

Rei was in the kitchen preparing for everyone seasoned ramen with chopped meat, buttered buscuits, and a small bowl of ricecakes.

On schedule, Chad entered the hallway with a pile of dried fresh clothes, and looked for any signs of Sonic or Tails. He would keep his guard up unlike the day before.

The older Shinto Trainee found Sonic running a white cloth along the wooden floor and continued on his way, except today the hedgehog noticed his arrival and moved over to let him through.

"Hey, Chad!"

As this pleasant salutation had been sent at him, Chad almost couldn't gather the words to respond back. Sonic must've been corrected for his different behavior. Normally he didn't say 'anything' to the human male, but instead kept his time on getting the floors cleaned.

"H-hey, Sonic!" Chad looked over his shoulder as he stepped on through the hallway, wondering what was said to make his fellow trainee more optimistic.

* * *

The delicious scented aroma of breakfast was sure to have wafted to everyone's noses.

Rei turned the stove's fire off once everything was ready to be served.

"Hey, you made ricecakes this time!" Chad studied what his friend made after getting the clothes from the dryer. Meanwhile Grandpa Hino appeared in front of the counter where these desserts laid, but was caught almost reaching for one by Rei. Neither Chad or Grandpa Hino knew why there'd been only two of these sweet dishes made and not enough for everyone.

"Those are for Amy and Tails, our new Shinto Trainees."

"Just for them?" thought Chad.

"Then if it's not too much, could you make some for us as well?" Grandpa Hino asked with politeness.

"I could, but I only made one for Amy and Tails because they're new. I wanted to give this to them as a reward for deciding to help Sonic."

Both Rei's parental figure and Chad first blinked confusedly at this, then they looked up at Rei and saw how serious she was.

Sonic heard this discussion through the slit of the hallway door. He had no idea about this caring side to Rei; but he really liked it.

"Sonic? You're finished with the floors already?" Tails interrupted his pal's thoughts.

"Huh?" Sonic quickly moved away from the door and placed his attention to Tails. "N-no, I'm not done. I just needed to yawn, that's all." The blue male went so far as to demonstrating a false yawn then got back to work.

"Well, if that's how you want to show them our thanks, then I say go for it," agreed Grandpa Hino, "But I still wouldn't mind having one for myself."

"Okay, Grandpa. I'll make one for you and Chad after we finish eating breakfast," Rei guaranteed with a soft chuckle.

"You don't want a ricecake, Rei?" interjected Chad.

"Eh, not really. I get enough sweets from Lita. I've decided to see how long I can cut back from it."

"Oh."

When everyone finally got to dive into their breakfasts and Rei cooked up more ricecakes like promised, Sonic joined Tails outside on the veranda.

Tails enjoyed taking in their natural surroundings just as he'd done on Angel Island. What struck him about Hikawa Shrine though was its cherry blossoms. The pinkish flowers came around only in Spring, and so the fox boy knew what this time called him to do.

"What's that, Tails?" Sonic noticed Tails reveal a notepad and pencil after the younger male finished his last of ricecake. Any other time the inventor tinkering on a machine or handheld device. But now he was about to write something.

"Oh, it's nothing," the fox grew nervous and covered his notes, "Just some thoughts I wrote down... remember that trip we took to Eggman's Space Amusement Park?"

"Yeah?"

"Well while you were regathering the lost Wisps, I did some exploring and realized how beautiful some of their planets were. I never knew nature was something I could find interesting."

"So you just write down whatever you think about nature down on that notepad?"

"Yeah."

When a response was expected, Sonic instead got up to his feet and put both arms behind his head. "All this talk about nature makes me feel like going for a run!"

"Huh?"

Tails didn't learn what the Blue Blur meant until he started to stretch his arms and legs. "Wait, Sonic! Rei might have more work for us to do! If you leave now then she's gonna wonder where you went."

"Don't worry, I'm just going for a 'short' run, nothing too big."

And like that, Sonic sped towards the shrine staircase. "See ya' when I come back, Tails!"

"Sonic...!"

Seeing no return, Tails sighed and let his hand return to his side. There was no telling the fastest thing alive when to stop, he figured. After thinking it through, the fox knew his friend would come back; it would turn out fine.

"Sonic?"

'That' voice could've only belonged to one priestess...

* * *

**_-Outside Entrance to Hang Castle-_**

Times had been set into place. Soldiers were given orders and commanded not to leave their master disappointed.

The brownish-red desert outside Hang Castle lay motionless without so much as a reptile or insect crawling along it. Morning still moved into day as the large orange moon ascended higher into the mystical twilight sky.

Pebbles on the ground started to rumble to a specific rhythm as footsteps soon approached them. How many feet causing them to shake was unanswerable; moving across the open dirt landscape were hundreds of Egg Robots armed with plasma rifles. And behind them was Bocoe carrying a flag with Eggman's trademark symbol, Docoe, Bokkun, and their creator... sitting proudly on a brown stallion, dressed in his usual clothing but with a elegant matching cape, and carrying a slim sword.

For anyone who knew the mustached scientist, they never knew him to carry anything like a sharp weapon. He knew it himself, but felt times of combat such as now required such a traditional item.

No one kept track of how long it took to reach the border of their destination, but when they did, Eggman commanded everyone to halt and wait for further instructions.

A new wind kicked up the dust along with Eggman's cape while they awaited their opposing enemies. The strategy to wipe them out had already been planned, what Eggman would do with Hang Castle once it were time...

...

...

...

"Hmph!"

There were only so many minutes he could wait until watching his robots begin the fight with their challengers. But the longer they waited, the more Eggman felt nothing were going to happen like he'd hoped for.

"Where is she?" Bokkun hovered and looked over the colony of Egg Robots, and didn't see a single person withdrawing from the castle.

"It's been ten minutes. We should at least hear footsteps by now," thought Docoe.

"You three wait here." Eggman didn't care to hear his henchman's opinions on the situation. He would go inside himself and investigate this mystery.

"Hey, can I go too?" chimed Bokkun.

"Did you not hear anything I said just now?"

"Fine, I'll stay."

Bokkun nor the others understood how cautious the disappearance of Nehelenia became. She'd specifically agreed to meeting them outside Hang Castle.

Eggman made his way through the castle's entrance and began along the hallway; his curiosity peaking like a mountain.

To be on the safe side, he kept his sword gripped tightly while almost reaching the end of the hallway, where he would enter the ghastly courtyard. If this were made to be a game, then he wouldn't partcipate. Not a single voice or footstep made itself known as Eggman slowly twisted the next doorknob.

Finally the villian was in the courtyard, but still no sign of Queen Nehelenia.

"This silence is all to strange for me." The doctor looked every which way as he tip-toed through the area. "If she wanted a fight, then why are she and her minions hiding?"

"Doctor Eggman, I presume?"

The male called by his name looked rightward and saw a golden woman staring at him with a small grin and hands on her waist. This female looked so much different from the Dead Moon Queen. A golden aura circling her body, and the air about her was more villianous.

Not like this made Eggman flinch though.

"Well, as correct as you are, 'you're' still a mystery to me."

Why was this lady here and not the one he was supposed to fight? Eggman wanted answers.

"Who I am isn't important. What's important is that you leave this castle immediately. There will be no wars here unless you'd like my servant fight to you."

By the flat tone in this woman's voice, Eggman felt offended and huffed with a glare. This person standing before seemed to have a connection with Nehelenia very well, but she wasn't eager to explain that to him.

"How did you know that a war was going to take place here? And what do you mean by there won't be one anymore?"

"I've taken care of your opponent. She no longer lives."

At this point, Eggman recieved most of the answers he needed. But still, the identity of this lady here remained unclear.

"Now if you don't mind, leave this castle at once before you deal with 'me'."

Enough was enough.

"Now you just wait a minute!" Eggman raised his voice and shook his fist, "I am the world's greatest scientist with an IQ of three-hundred. I am not some villian who robs public banks or steals from old lady's purses. It's haughty, arrogant women like 'you' who think the woman can achieve more than the man! Well you're mistaken if you expect me to let you take what's potentially mine!"

Eggman wasn't gullible. He knew world domination was on the top of Galaxia's checklist. She'd gotten rid of Nehelenia, but would have to think twice if she thought he would let her walk over him.

All the Sailor Soldier could do was laugh at this foolish man for trying to fill her with hesitance. Had he no idea who he was toying with?

"Now I have a clearer glimpse of who you are. Overconfident and simple minded. I may be a woman like Nehelenia, but my power exceeds hers by more than you can imagine."

The doctor could only look at Galaxia with more anger than he'd looked at Nehelenia with; while she had more words to give.

"You say your IQ is three-hundred, correct?"

"Yes. Why does that interest you?" Eggman replied with a cold tone.

"Well someone of your intelligence should have learned or least heard of the Legendary Sailor Scouts."

"The Legendary Sailor Scouts?"

His frustration died and was soon replaced with deep wondrance. Not in all of Eggman's life had he heard about something like this.

"Over ten thousand years ago... all the planets in the Solar System were blessed with the ability to become magical soldiers, what's now called Sailor Scouts. Ten of them passed away and were reincarnated into humans who live here now. But I've lived for far much longer, and am stronger than all of them combined."

Seeing her new competition amazed by her speech, the gold warrior smirked, "So I am the last sailor scout you want to approach."

Everything became quiet after this was said; Eggman seeming to be left without a response. However in nothing but seconds, the scientist made a short laugh and got his egotism back.

"Do you really think that little history lesson you gave just now will make me think twice about fighting you? Maybe I'm not all that familiar with the Legendary Sailor Scouts, but now you've helped me decide on which one to get rid of first!"

"Hm," Sailor Galaxia pushed a tiny smile onto her face, "You're more niave than I thought. As much as I'd like to face you in battle, I'm already preoccuped with a 'more important' task."

There she went again with offending him. The nerve of that woman!

Before Eggman could push out his anger, Galaxia disappeared and left him alone in the courtyard.

After 'this', he'd had just enough of the opposite gender belittling him and-

"Ah, there he is!"

Eggman couldn't finish his thoughts as a familiar trio approached him from behind.

"Doctor Eggman, where is the queen?"

"'What' about her?"

The bald genius snarled at Docoe then turned on his heel and stomped back towards the door with an infuriated attitude. Just what was there about Nehelenia now when she was dead and this new opponent were to think about? It didn't mean anything, but to worry about what Galaxia was up to.

"Umm..." began Bocoe, "Maybe she forgot that today was the battle?"

"No..."

Bocoe and Docoe turned around as they noticed their smaller friend crying his eyes out while holding something in his little palm. They knelt down in front of him and realized what appeared to be a forehead gem went to.

"Wait..." Bocoe stood back up as the pieces verily fit. That gem didn't belong to anything else but to...

"I know Doctor Eggman didn't like her, but she was the only one who treated me nice!" Bokkun kept sobbing, clenching his hand with the accessory he would always treasure.

"Bokkun..." Docoe put a comforting around around the child's neck and began to talk softly. "Don't forget that you still have us. We have been friends ever since we were prototypes."

Docoe also mentioned, "We are sure you will meet another nice lady soon."

Bokkun wiped the tears running down his face, then looked up at each of his friends and realized... "You guys are like my best friends!"

The next thing every robot knew, Bokkun had took them both into tight hugs, so glad to have friends like them.

"You idiots! Put that melancholic business behind you so we can return to the ship!"

"Y-yes, Doctor Eggman!"

And in no time flat, the robotic trio after giving this response hurried out the courtyard and back to their peeved leader.


	9. Chapter 9

**_-Hang Castle-_**

As surprising as it was for that Doctor Eggman to arrive at her new castle, Galaxia now knew what else to watch out for while her main task were intact.

In the end, Nehelenia really had turned out to be a jealous, crafty underling. But that wasn't for Sailor Galaxia to worry about anymore.

The ruler sat on her dark throne in a fairly candle lit throne room where two Sailor Scouts stood before her.

The first individual went by the alias of Sailor Lead Crow. This female's boldest feature was her gorgeous red-brown hair that reached past her buttox. As for uniform, she had on a garnet collar, a brown leotard brought together by black straps, black feathers serving as her shoulder pads, and stylish boots that reached past her knees.

The villian next to her was a mythical looking woman with cyan hair that almost touched her feet and could remind anyone of the sea's crashing waves. She wore earrings shaped like minirature angel wings with small stars on them. Across her porcelain face was a tiny star connected by white laces, also her apparel was similar to Lead Crow's in the way that it strings brought the seductive top together; except 'this' Sailor Scout's shirt took cascaded down into ruffles. Her name was Sailor Aluminum Siren.

What Aluminum Siren and Sailor Lead Crow both shared was the gold bracelets around their wrists. Their leader had explained to them the accessory's purpose, so everything was going smooth.

Galaxia had just finished discussing with her minions Eggman's appearance, and that it was nothing for them to pay attention to.

"So, as you can see, my concern lies more on getting the Silver Crystal from Sailor Moon. It's my hope that you two can get the task done for me and get rid of her friends all in one day."

"I'm sure we most defintely can, Master Galaxia," said Lead Crow, "Leave it up to us. You 'won't' regret it."

"I hope you are right," Galaxia aroused a bit of sterness to her voice, "We already discussed why I am having you both do this for me."

"Because you like us?" blurted out Aluminum Siren.

"Reiko!"

Sailor Lead Crow almost lost her temper and put a hand to her forehead. She didn't know what she was going to do with this best friend of hers. For as long as she'd known the younger girl, Sailor Aluminum wasn't... what someone would call the brightest light on a Christmas Tree. She had her moments, and had them all the time.

Galaxia ridiculed Aluminum Siren in her mind but sarcastically replied out loud, "Yes... let us leave at that."

After a few moments of silence, Lead Crow cleared her throat and gathered the words to send back to her superior. "So everything has been discussed then? I think Aluminum Siren and I are ready to leave now."

"Very well. Do not return telling me that you didn't get the Silver Crystal."

"Yes, Master Galaxia," Lead Crow politely bowed, noticing her partner barely follow the action.

Today was going to be a long day...

* * *

**_-Mugen Academy_**-

Finally the bells to end school chimed, every student and teacher ready to finish their rest of their planned day.

The hallways filled up like bees to honey as several young adults went to their lockers to put their books inside and get their personal belongings altogether.

A tomboy in particular with short blonde hair opened her locker to stack two red books inside of while a female violinist around the same age stood beside and watched this take place.

After the tomboy then closed her locker, the violinist asked, "Do you still think it's best to bring this up to Trista? You could have been imagining things."

"No, I'm sure I saw that guy. He sped on through the street in no time flat just like the hedgehog from Trista's story." After this response, the two girls began towards the academy's exit with their black suitcases.

"Whatever you decide to do, I'm with you," confessed the violinist, "This reminds me of that time you said you saw Lita inside the fashion botique on French and Mare Street."

"Hey, whatever she does is her business. I just happened to see her walk inside while I was heading through downtown."

Quietly, the violinist responded to her partner by smiling. Maybe it was 'her' not wanting to believe what her friend said she saw; but the point was that this sight of the blue hedgehog needed to be reported to Trista, and immediately at that.

* * *

**_-Lita's Apartment-_**

After waking up and sitting down to a nice breakfast, Lita Kino was now getting out of the shower, dressed in a shirt and denim jeans. Obviously there were still no choice but to sit at home until she could return to school, but the brunette promised that she wouldn't spend another day alone.

"Having alone time is good, but not if it's for a whole week."

So the teen went to her room to grab some socks and sneakers to head out the door, however someone knocked on it before she got to start her plan.

When Lita opened the door, she couldn't believe what she saw.

"Cream, Cheese! And you brought your..."

"Mother," corrected Trista, "She's sorry they came on such short notice, but her daughter said she wanted to look for you and ask if they could stay with you for a while. Reasons would be explained later."

Seeing how speechless Lita was left, Vanilla added, "Really, I am terribly sorry for intruding like this. We've come to look for Sonic, but my children wondered if we could stay here."

It was one thing if Cream and her family hadn't appeared with luggage at their side, but they did; Lita couldn't find a reason to turn them away when they seemed like genuinely considerate people.

Cream had something next to say after her mother's brief explanation. "I told my mom about how you like baking and taking care of flowers, so she brought her recipe book for you two to make stuff together!"

"Chao chao chao!" chirped Cheese, lighting up smiles on everyone's faces.

"Well I'm sure your mom and I will make some tasty treats," Lita confirmed, "As far as you guys staying here, I don't have a problem with it."

"So we can stay?"

"Chao!"

"Yeah, it's no problem at all."

"Thank you so very much, dear!" thanked Vanilla, "As we'll be staying here, you may call me Miss Vanilla."

"Then you can call me Lita."

"It's settled then, Lita," Vanilla reached out to shake the chef's hand and was accepted a very warm one.

Meanwhile, Trista thought to herself, "Well, it looks like my work here is done," then spoke, "I should get going now that you guys have made arrangements. Bye Lita, and farewell, Miss Vanilla."

"As to you, Miss Meioh," Vanilla smiled back.

It was after Trista left and closed the door that Cream's mother continued, "Now, to the matter of where we'll set our luggage..."

"Here, I'll put it in your new room for you." Seeing that it was the least she could do, Lita clutched Vanilla's suitcases and led the Rabbit family to a spacious green room.

All that lay inside was a queen-sized bed between two curtained windows and nightstands, and the carpet was a shade of white creme.

"Thank you, dear."

As her belongings were put down, Vanilla studied the room and came up with a fantastic idea. Her children sat on the bed and watched their mother while listening to her and Lita's conversation until they figured out what to do next.

"This room is very large."

"Yeah, 'too' large actually," Lita retorted as she watched Vanilla walk up to one of the curtains and let the sunshine in.

"But not to worry. In due time, we can add more so it doesn't look so empty."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Lita asked Vanilla.

"Once I find a well-enough store, we can spruce this room up. Of course if that's alright with you, dear."

"No, no, I don't mind at all. It's just that, this room used to belong to my mom and dad."

"Oh..."

Vanilla, Cream, and Cheese could all see Lita's eyes beginning to moisten up. She didn't share her personal life with anyone but her closest friends, so it stung a little now that she'd brought it up.

"Forgive me, Lita," Vanilla laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, "I didn't mean to arouse that."

"No, it's okay. Usually my past doesn't bother me like it used to. My friends keep me company, so as life goes on I'm slowly healing."

"Well that's wonderful. That's what friends are there for." After a short silence, Vanilla parted her lips again. "So since you live here by yourself, do you go to school?"

"Well next week I'll be going."

"That's fine. When you do begin, I'll stay here and keep the house tidied up for you."

"Oh, really? Well thanks..." Lita couldn't explain how astonished this kind gesture had left her. Cream's mother had to the nicest mother on the planet because of how she behaved now.

"It's no problem, dear."

"Um, so would you guys like some snacks or something to drink?"

"Yes, sure."

* * *

"Today's finally the day. Tracking down the Moon Princess will be simple. All it takes is thinking and using what affects her the most; love. Master Galaxia specifically told us who the Moon Princess's lover was. To use him in our plan would mean total success! Still... in the middle of all this, there's Reiko to worry about. Me and her are very different people. It's my hope that she follows my instructions so that we don't leave Master Galaxia disappointed."

...

...

Sailor Lead Crow. Sixteen years of age. Such a dominant and motivated woman.

Around the same time when the mighty Queen Beryl destroyed the ancient Moon Kingdom, Planet Coronis, home of the Black Crows, shared a similar fate. Galaxia promised Sailor Lead Crow unimaginable power if she killed Coronis's protector named Sailor Coronis.

And so after the murdered soldier's Star Seed transformed Lead Crow into an actual sailor scout, she from that point on dedicated her life to carrying out Galaxia's wishes...

* * *

**_-Downtown Crossroads City-_**

...

...

"Reiko and I have finally arrived on Earth now. As a part of our scheme, Reiko and I will use our civilian identities. My full name is Akane Karasuma, and I'm a tourist who's trying to find my way around town. Reiko's full name is Reiko Aya, and she's my friend who I've finally been able to meet in person. There isn't a doubt in my mind that this plan will fail. The Silver Crystal is right in front of us."

"Ah!"

Akane had the feeling that something like Reiko tripping over her blue high heels would occur. Even though 'she' slipped on a brown blouse, jeans, and sandals, and Reiko also wore a blue-white dress containing polka dots, it wasn't Akane's idea to go clothes shopping. Time was of the essence and their plan had never included fashion.

Though inside Akane's heart, the older female would keep her shopping with Reiko as an enjoyed momory. She realized how fun it actually was and knew her best friend was happy to have picked out her outfit.

The pair of friends now were pacing through the downtown plaza in search of the key to their ultimate plan.

"Akane? Did I mention how great that blouse looks on you?" began Reiko.

"Oh... thanks, Reiko." Akane didn't see a comment like this coming at all; All that'd mattered to the brunette was putting on nice clothing.

"Your very welcome- oh my!"

Off in the distance, inside Crossroads Park, two boys were playing the game of 'Monkey in the Middle' with a slightly younger girl; the item being thrown back and forth was her rag doll. She cried her eyes out, but no other adults besides Reiko and Akane seemed to notice.

"What is it?" Akane responded, then turned to the scene of the mischief.

Then out of nowhere, she found Reiko darting towards the youths with a loud battle cry.

"Huh? Reiko...!"

"Take this, you little brats!"

After hearing Reiko's warning voice, the boys discovered her but had no time to react as a... pair of soda cans was thrown at them.

Akane could only sigh as she witnessed this 'attack' of her ally's, otherwise known as 'Galactica Tsunami'. And what made this situation a hundred times worse... the mothers who started complaining at Reiko for abusing their sons with cold beverages.

"Well I've never!" snapped Reiko, "You women should discipline your sons for harrassing this poor little girl here!"

Having spotted their target, Akane readied herself but almost forgot her partner, who was on the verge of getting arrested.

"Ladies, I apologize for my friend's foolish behavior." Akane sent Reiko a frustrated glare, "I promise it won't happen again."

* * *

**_-Crossroads Park-_**

This couldn't have been happening.

It was only their first day and Aluminum Siren was already making an idiot out of herself; so much that it made Lead Crow look dumb for affiliating with her. For all they knew, Sailor Galaxia could have been spectating from behind a tree and decided to bring punishment.

Reiko found herself sitting on a bench while Akane stood before her with a lot to say.

"Do you realize what you almost did back there, Reiko? Abusing kids will get you sent to jail, and then I'll have to break you out and that's not apart of our mission!"

"But Akane, you can't tell me you didn't see the way those boys were treating that little girl back there. It was so cruel!"

Speaking on the subject of children casued a flashback to play in Akane's mind; about the day where Reiko told her about her single child, and how it was taken from Reiko after she became Galaxia's servant.

Ever since that tragic event, the Mermaid Soldier ate food compulsively as a means to ease her stress.

Akane looked at her friend now and ended up saying in a soft tone, "Yes Reiko, I saw it too. But that wasn't why we came here."

Before Reiko could make a reply, Akane grasped the opportunity and added, "Why don't you see where that little girl is and keep her company?"

"Oh, Akane, that's such a thoughtful idea!" Reiko rose to her feet and smiled widely, "Why didn't I think of that?"

As this touching moment ended a sweatdrop formed on Akane's head. Some things about Reiko never changed, the Raven Soldier thought.

* * *

"Darien, are you sure we can't stay a little longer? I think these ducks really like me," insisted Rini, petting one of the feathered creatures.

"I agree with you, Rini, but I need to take you with me because I need to ask Serena something. I would let you stay but you're not old enough."

"But I'm perfectly capable of watching myself!" Rini stood up and raised her tiny voice, showing Darien her pink wristwatch. "If things get out of hand, I can call one of the others for help."

In the midst of Rini's convincing, her future-father only saw a girl whose innocence wasn't ready for what the world was going to potentially throw at her; yet a girl who knew what was needed to take on those hardships.

Neo-Queen Serenity had every right to say that the pink-haired girl wouldn't become a Sailor Scout, but there were sensible reasons as to why it were decided to happen.

For one, it was part of the Solar System Soldier's tradition for their offspring to inherit Sailor Crystals when they came of age. And secondly... Rini held something that no other magical warrior in the whole universe could say they carried; and that was Pegasus.

Months ago when the Dead Moon Circus came in search of Pegasus, it'd been Rini's mirror which they found the beautiful white horse in. So that event symbolized Rini as a girl to hold still locked yet unimaginable power.

Another example that showed this was the incident with Lady Badiyanu's kidnappings of every children from across the globe. Out of everyone, it'd been Rini's Sugar Energy she wanted most because it differed and held more power than the rest.

So Neo-Queen Serenity knew sending her daughter back to the past to learn the ways of a Sailor Soldier was one of the best decisions she could have ever made.

The fatherly, concerned emotions wouldn't leave Darien's heart regardless, as a moth wouldn't seperate itself from a glowing light.

He knelt down beside his future-daughter and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Sometimes you remind me of Serena."

Rini's eyes almost popped out of her head. "Really, I do?"

"Yeah. Both of you are so headstrong and confident. I remember Serena told me about the time both of you worked together to stop Lady Badiyanu from swallowing Earth into her Black Dream Hole and she ate one of your cookies just before going to save you. She said it gave her more confidence."

Out of total amazement, Rini had to repeat Darien's words in her mind just to get a clearer idea.

She remembered how earlier on that same day, Serena and her had a contest to see who baked the best cookies. Serena's looked delicious but tasted horrible, so Rini had teased her and the rest was history... but to hear that her bad-looking treats helped Sailor Moon to go rescue her was almost unbelivable.

Just minutes away from Rini and Darien was Akane approaching them to give her friendly hello.

"...she really said that?"

"Yes," Darien gave a warm smile but was startled when a frown colored Rini's face.

"Well I sure wish she would be that nice to me all the time! She's always so bossy and loud and clumsy and like a crybaby."

"Well, uh-"

"Excuse me."

Before Darien could finish his response, Akane appeared in front of him with an interesting air about her. The lady reminded him of Trista with her dark skin tone and very long hair.

"Hi, I'm a tourist from out of town." Akane gave a smile that showed off her pearly-white teeth. "I was looking for a man named Darien Shields so he could give me a tour of this city."

Already Rini sent this mysterious female a suspiscious glance and looked up at Darien to see how he felt. Just how did this woman know his full name?

"Um, but I've never actually given anyone a tour before. Maybe you could try asking a bus driver or taximan."

Perfect, now there would be nothing for this lady to say, Rini thought. Unless...

"Surely there's a way we can work this out. Look..."

Both Darien and Rini's eyes shifted to the Akane's pocket as she revealed a twenty dollar bill.

"This is my money left over from shopping. Could it be of help to you somehow?"

Rini couldn't believe what'd just taken place.

In a matter of seconds, Darien accepted the cash, thanked her appreciatively for it, then returned to Rini while Akane turned and walked away.

"That lady offered me twenty-dollars, so I decided to take her on the tour. It's the least I can do since I'm low on money right now."

"But Darien, don't you find it strange how she knows your name and you guys just met?"

"Yeah, but I 'did' star on Crown Game Arcade's first ever commercial. Hundreds of people would've learn my name after seeing it."

Even with this to acknowledge, Rini wouldn't give up her suspicions. For Darien's sake she kept silent and listened to him continue, "Don't worry, Rini. After I show her and her friend around, they probably won't need anymore help."

Her friend?... now Rini only became more worried.

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

After taking off with such a high speed... taking in the different scenes and feeling that sense of freedom the Hikawa Shrine didn't contain... the world's fastest hedgehog didn't think he would be in the kitchen, preparing lunch for five people including himself, while wearing a light-blue trousers and white kimono jacket resembling Chad's; Amy and Tails as the newest Shinto Trainees were also provided these outfits to slip on.

What was next? Grocery shopping?

As Sonic finished chopping up a batch of fried meat, Tails let himself into the kitchen along with Amy. They had been told why Rei made Sonic make lunch for them.

"Hey, Sonic."

He spun around at the sound of Tails's voice and replied, "Hey! Uh, so you guys are both done selling those lucky charms outside?"

"No, Rei just gave us a break."

As the sound of this flat tone came from Amy, Sonic felt a cold shiver run down his back.

Rei was upset when he'd returned from his personal break. Amy had arrived before this time, giving the blue male twice the anger to deal with.

"Oh," he responded nervously, "W-well, the food Rei wanted me to make is almost done."

"What is it exactly?" asked Tails, walking towards the counter where Sonic was.

"She said it's bento boxes."

Everyone looked down and studied what laid on the counter next to the boxes ready to be filled. There was the meat, rice, fish, and cooked vegetables.

"So these are all the foods you put inside a bento box?" Amy queried Sonic.

"Yep."

Sonic then moved on to placing the foods into the different squares inside each container, until eventually all six were prepared and ready to be eaten.

As Amy didn't appreciate Sonic's earlier disappearance, the rose had to admit that he outdid himself with these Japanese lunches sitting before them.

"These boxes look so delicious, Sonic!"

"Thanks, Ames!" Sonic smiled, "Since it's all ready, why don't we go ahead and dig into our share?"

Amy and Tails very much liked the sound of this, so everyone grabbed a bento box and went to the table to sit.

While Sonic chowed his down, he couldn't help but arouse one important topic.

"It would still be great if Rei told me why she had me make these lunches."

Amy had to first think about what was just said, and then a sly grin played on her face. "You know... I have the answer to that question."

"Really, you do?"

Amy set her chopsticks down and parted her lips. "Mhm. But I'll only tell if you promise me one thing."

In slight annoyance, Sonic crossed his arms.

Tails grew scared at the sound of this, slowly picking up a carrot with his chopsticks.

"And what's that?"

"That you'll go on a date with me!"

"No way! I don't have time to play your games right now, Ames. Maybe some other time."

"Huh?" Soon the room grew unexpectedly silent, and Amy's face morphed from cheery to peeved. "What makes you think that it's a game?" The hedge-girl slammed her hands against the table's surface, making everyone's boxes jump.

"You always ask me about a date and I always give you the same answer," Sonic remained calm.

"Only because I'm tired of hearing your excuses!"

"Is there a problem in here?"

All eyes turned to the person who entered the room and saw that it was none other than Rei.

"In ten minutes I need Amy and Tails to work the booth outside. Sonic, you can take care of sweeping the ground."

There went again that unfair treatment. Sonic wondered when he would ever figure the mystery out.

His tone became that of low and a bit offended, but not so much that anyone saw his feelings. "Alright, well I'd say we'll all be done by the time our break is up."

Having given her orders, Rei walked over to the counter and took her bento box then joined her friends in expectance of Sonic's cooking skills being good. Not so much after that did a new chat spark, but only exchanged glances and the arrivals of Chad and Grandpa Hino getting their food.

* * *

**A/N**: **Well, that's a wrap for this chapter! I know it seems to be moving slow, but there's a very good reason behind it. Two of the Sailor Animamates just got introduced, while Amy and Tails have been recruited as Shinto Trainees like Sonic, so rest assured. I wanted to say if anyone doesn't know about Sailor Lead Crow and Aluminum Siren, well, they're from the fifth Sailor Moon season. I haven't seen it but only did some research, so I'm doing my best with writing about them. If anyone has any questions at all about this entire story, feel free to ask :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

"Thanks for stopping by! Come again soon!"

Moments after Amy waved goodbye to a pair of school girls who purchased charm bracelets, one looked back at her then chatted to their friend.

Amy disliked the uncomfort and awkwardness this sort of scene brought her. It wasn't the Sonic Heroes' fault if they didn't exactly fit in with the rest of Crossroad City's residents.

After thinking for some time, Tails turned to her and said, "I'm not so sure the people here have heard of us yet. Every person who's came to this shrine looks at us like we're from a different planet."

"Well," Amy sighed, "It's not the first time it's happened like that. I'm sure after a few days things will get normal again."

"Hey, Amy? Isn't Mina on her way to come and go with you to the mall?"

"Yes. Why, do you wanna come with us?"

"Oh, no. I just asked because I kind've hoped to go somewhere myself."

A small grin flashed across Amy's face. "Then why don't you see what Amy's up to? Sometimes she's at the Crown Game Arcade or the library."

"That's a good idea. Thanks."

Before Tails thought any longer on this new plan, the fox boy's eyes shifted towards a familiar hedgehog sweeping the concrete beside the Hikawa Shrine's staircase.

"But that means Sonic would be here by himself. I wonder if he made plans to go somewhere," Tails continued.

"Well I don't know and I don't intend to find out." Amy crossed her arms and looked away from Sonic as if he were too shameful to gaze at.

There wasn't anything left to say when they'd argued and each hedgehog thought the other was being too unreasonable.

When their shifts ended, Amy could go to her place, and Sonic would do whatever he'd planned.

Time for the next passing hours moved by quickly, the sun came to a set and illustrated its usual beautiful warm colors, and the booths were empty with no one there to make any sales.

He finished sweeping and looked up from the ground. How nice it would've been to leave with his friends instead of being left alone, but no worries. The blue hedgehog would just have to find out what he wanted to do too. But before that...

Three knocks came to Rei's door.

"Yes?"

"Hey, it's me. Can I come in?"

After swallowing her medicine, Rei coughed then rose from her bed to open the door.

Sonic discovered that less color were on the priestess's face. That nasty cold of hers must've had been getting worse by the second.

Rei sat back on her mattress while Sonic took a seat on her stool, positioned in front of her. No one exchanged words for those first few moments, but finally Sonic parted his lips.

"So, I've been meaning to ask what's up with the extra work you gave me today. I didn't really get that."

"You really don't know?" Rei asked with disbelief, "When you ran off earlier and didn't say anything! Does that ring a bell?"

"Ohh... you mean 'that'..."

"Yes, that! I don't see why you thought that would be alright and you still work here."

In the middle of forming a response, Sonic sheepishly rubbed his head and began to feel guilty. To him, the situation was okay. But it seemed he had forgotten his place, and upset Rei all in one day.

"Well," the mobian looked up at Rei, "I told Tails that'd I'd only be gone for a little while. Maybe I lost track of time, but it wasn't on purpose."

Before she could respond, the shrine maiden ended up looking away. Sonic grew puzzled about this, wondering what he'd said to make her do that.

"Forget what I said just now."

"Huh?"

Rei moved her sight back to the hedgehog. "Tails told me about how before your evil nemesis came into the picture, you always loved to explore and run free. He said it was what made you into the person you are today, so I shouldn't make such a fuss over it. I guess I just flipped out because I was scared you would go and run off like -"

"Knuckles?" Sonic finished the sentence with a serious expression, "Well here's what you have to remember. Me and him aren't the same person. We've been close friends for a long time, but we grew up very different. He's the way he is because..."

Another second and Sonic would've blurted out something he knew shouldn't be broadcasted. But Rei became curious.

"Because what? Tell me."

Looking into her eyes, Sonic realized there was no way getting out of this conversation. So he took a deep breath and narrated his story from the earliest point he could recal...

"Ever since the beginning of time, there's been this emerald that has infinite power and keeps Knuckles's home island afloat in the sky. It's called the Master Emerald, and because of how worthy it is, the job of guarding means his life."

As Rei listened to this historical story, she confirmed how it were similar to the Silver Crystal inside Serena. Every dark foe they came against wanted it for ultimate power as well, so she very well understood Sonic's point.

"If it ever fell into the wrong hands, I'd say we would need a miracle. That's how important it is. So yeah, with how long Knuckles stayed here, he figured he'd been away from the Master Emerald for too long and left fast." Sonic noticed how his raven-haired friend didn't reply, so he continued. "It might've helped if I told you this sooner, but I'm sure you can see why I wasn't in a hurry to."

"No, it's fine, really," Rei covered her mouth to cough, "... I understand the situation completely. So now I see why he's not much of a talker."

"Heh heh. Well, you and your friends should be used to that by now. He's the same way with us."

Rei smiled as Sonic had laughed. Maybe her body didn't heal, but she still felt better to know why Knuckles left and the background info behind it. To watch over something took a lot of patience and energy; the same way Rei, Mina, Lita, and Ami had learned it was their destinies to protect the Moon Princess.

"Well, now that we've got all of that taken care of, why don't you go on your break?"

Immediately, Sonic got up from his spot. "Sure, why not? What does this city have to do for fun?"

"Well, there's a video game arcade that Serena always goes to. Then there's the Crown Fruit Parlor. We all go there sometimes to hang out and talk over fruit smoothies. But I'm not sure what you like."

"Eh... the game arcade sounds better for now." Sonic began for the door, but surprised Rei by turning around before opening it. "Hey... and, try to get better, okay?"

" Um, okay."

The moment like this wasn't to be expected. He treated her with friendliness... over and over widening his smile, and being the nicest hedgehog he could be.

After the door had been closed, she thought about getting up and reaching for the telephone.

* * *

**_-Crossroads City-_**

Cars rolled along the black road while citizens paced across the tiled streets. Nothing abnormal about that. Though when it came to Sonic, the azure speedster chose to leap across the rooftops until he reached his given destination.

A familiar blond sped through the street in her red car, with usual companion in the passenger's seat; they just so happened to be on their way to Trista's house.

The wind blowing against their faces as they moved felt cool, almost refreshing. Amara thought about the mysterious blue blur she recalled learning from Trista, and as if on cue, Michelle notified the older girl by spotting a similar figure leaping across tops of buildings.

"It looked exactly like the person we talked about earlier."

"Then now's our chance to finally uncover the truth." And after the street light changed to green, Amara pressed the engine pedal with her foot and revved after their suspicious target.

There was no idea in the world for Sonic to stop his feet and look down on who were moving alongside him.

Michelle kept watch on the anthropomorphic teenager while Amara stuck her eyes on the road.

"He's still going," Michelle alerted, "It makes you wonder where he's planning to go."

"It's all the same in the end. We'll find out why he time-traveled and make sure it doesn't happen again." Amara slightly looked at Michelle, "Let Trista know we've found him, so that way we can all learn it."

Without hesitation, Michelle activated the communicator on her wrist and soon was watching an image of Trista's face.

"Michelle, what's the situation?"

"Amara and I found that blue hedgehog you told us about. We're keeping an eye on him and he's led us to the Crossroads Mall District."

* * *

**_-Crossroads Mall District-_**

On both sides of the street stand multiple fashion botiques, salons, bakeries, pet stores, shoes stores, bike shops, and movie theaters. This section of the entire city was always popluated with teenagers and on occassion adults. Because the sunset arrived, everyone was leaving the different shops and beginning to return home.

"I always wondered if Buns has visited this district yet," Amara referred Serena, emphasizing her love for sweets.

Michelle gave a slight giggle. "Oh I'm sure Darien has taken her down here once or twice. Their sweets 'really' are delicious, you know."

Amara had a formulated response, but how traffic appeared and caused her to slow down left no time to elaborate.

She groaned in frustration and slammed her palm into the side of the driver's wheel. Sonic was getting away and it was because of all these cars deciding to come from the crossing road and take the same path.

"At this rate, we'll lose him!"

Having heard what took place, Trista assured, "Don't worry. My house is only a few minutes away. One of you stay there while the other follow him."

Niether Amara or Michelle were used to feeling what being seperated felt like, but this was an important mission.

Both females looked at each other, then Amara unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car.

...

...

"Ah!" a brunette teenager screamed as they were inches away from being ran over by an unexpected motorcyclist.

Amara had no intentions of knocking anyone down, but speeding her motorcycle in between the driver lanes was her only chance. She'd hurried into the nearest bike store and purchased a yellow motorcycle, and dressed herself in the also purchased blue racer uniform, consisting of a suit, gloves, boots, and shiny helmet.

By now, he should've made it to the Crown Game Arcade. Anyone who knew Sonic knew he hated waiting, but not a single banner that say games on it showed in sight.

"Hm... this game arcade should be around here somewhere... I don't need a watch to know I've been running for over an hour."

Sonic knew he should keep his decision and keep his eyes peeled for this facility Rei mentioned to him. In about ten seconds he looked from up above and found a colorful sign reading something along the lines of her words.

"Alright, there it is!"

With precise skill, Sonic leapt from the top of the glass building, performed a front-flip, then landed in front of the game arcade and began his way inside. Unknown to the hedgehog, Amara was occupied with looking for a place to park her car.

* * *

_**-Crown Game Arcade-**_

The room came with many different sounds: beeps, buzzes, clicks, taps, and noisy voices of those in its midst. Sonic eyed the multiple game machines and found groups of people standing around them. Since visiting this place was his first time, he decided to check out one the fighting games that a pair of stocky teenagers was playing. But in order to do so, he had to crawl through the horde of people just to see the fight on the video screen.

A couple of the boys felt Sonic brush through them and looked down at the hedgehog as if he were a mystery. If they didn't know any better, he looked like something a person would see in a forest.

Sonic stood by the person playing the right side of the screen and learned they'd chosen a player named Ryu. This guy had brown hair and dark eyes, and wore a white suit and tied ribbon around his head. For the most part, Ryu had lesser life than his opponent, Chun-Li; a female with an odango-hair style and oriental blue suit trimmed with gold. And even the world's fastest hedgehog had to admit... this Chun-Li person was superfast with her kicks. Ryu appeared to stay out of her way whenever she lunged her foot at him, gathering power for his secret weapon.

This fight was timed and as of now twenty-nine seconds remained. Eventually someone would lose. Sonic were anxious to see who won. He acknowledged Chun-Li, but Ryu packed a pretty large amount of strength in his fists.

Now the clock dwindled past eighteen seconds. Ryu's life would be taken if he got struck about three more times. All Chun-Li waited for was for an open spot to appear. She ceased herself then put her hands together and formed a cerulean-colored energy ball. Before Sonic knew it, the screen focused on the heroine as she shouted, "Hakyokou!" Soon after this, the small orb in her possession grew humongous and almost swallowed its opponent.

In his mind, Sonic was awed at how the female character could pull something off like this. If she or Ryu were real, he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask about sparring with one of them.

The individual manuvering Ryu was relieved to have dodged that dangerous Hakyokuo. 'Now' he would end the match with 'his' special move. With the correct buttons pressed, Ryu acted on his controller's actions, drew his hands back, and released an attack similar to Chun Li's, except this energy shot at her like a beam and he'd yelled out, "Shinkuu... Hadouken!"

After that, Chun-Li couldn't get back up from the ground, and the person playing as her had to admit defeat and let the next person have their turn. Different teenagers roared and cheered with amazement over the gained victory.

So this was what a game arcade were like.

Sonic knew how it felt to be thrilled and pepped up with excitement to take on challenges, so he could say, "You know, I think I already like this place. But I'm gonna keep away from this fighting game. Wouldn't wanna get my butt kicked." He'd laughed at that last comment since he meant it.

"Hey, you must be a newcomer."

Having walked out from the crowd and stepped aside, Sonic turned around and found a man with blond hair and green eyes smiling at him and kneeling to be level with him. By his expression, he seemed really nice.

"Yeah," Sonic spoke up, "One of my friends told me I should check out this place."

"Hahaha! Well great, that's good you're already taking a liking to it." the man extended his hand forward. "My name's Andrew. What about you?"

Amara eavesdropped on this conversation from behind a nearby game machine. Any time now Trista and Michelle would be here. So keeping herself hidden was the best option.

"They call me Sonic!" the trademark hedgehog accepted Andrew's handshake.

"Sonic? That's an awesome name! Well, go ahead and see what games you like. Normally you would need quarters to play, but I like you, so I'll provide the money for you." Andrew leaned towards Sonic and handed him a plastic bag with his needed cash. "Just make sure not to tell anyone I'm doing this for you. They'd be all over me like robbers if they knew about this."

"Heh heh, no prob," Sonic gave a thumbs up, "Maybe when you're not busy I can show you why they call me Sonic."

With his astonished reaction, Andrew would've queried Sonic about this last remark, but the hedgehog went away before that could happen. He could only watch Sonic walk off and think of that day they'd meet up.

Because fighting games were out of the question, Sonic found himself inserting a coin to play a driving game that required he hold a steering wheel. From the first minutes he drove it seemed okay; the distance this vehicle could drive was incomparable to his.

"I'm not sure I like this one so much..."

The car was kept along the designated road, until Sonic got lazy and made a late turn.

"Woah!" After his car went off the road, the words "GAME OVER" flashed across the screen as if he needed to be reminded; like he didn't know already.

"Aw man! Oh well, maybe this just wasn't the game for me."

"You'll get the hang of it once you keep playing."

At this calm response, Sonic faced his left and discovered a young woman starting to play the same game herself. She gripped the wheel and started off the lap great.

Sonic could tell she found this game likable and had played it probably over a hundred times. She never turned too early, or late for that matter. In the end she finished all three laps and watched the screen display, "CONGRATULATIONS".

Now 'this' girl was someone who liked driving, Sonic thought.

"Wow, you really are awesome at that game! You never went off the track."

"Well it took a lot of practice to avoid that," Amara got up and faced Sonic, "The same way it takes practice to run on foot, or to 'time-travel' maybe."

At the sound of that last hobby, a sweatdrop formed on Sonic's head. He didn't know what Amara was talking about, but her tone said enough.

"Uhh... t-time-travel? Nah, I like running instead."

Away from the hedgehog and Amara, Trista and Michelle appeared from behind and started towards them.

Now this phase of their plan could finally be accomplished.

Sonic looked at Amara while thinking about what she'd say next.

Before talking, she first made a frown. "Enough chit-chat."

"Huh?"

"We know who you are, Sonic The Hedgehog."

Before anything, Sonic raised his eyebrow. How was it this girl knew his name? Now it was time for him to make a stern face too.

"How do you know my name?"

"That's not important now." As Amara stated this, Trista and Michelle appeared on each side of her. "We're going to need to come with us and and give us some information."

By the looks of this situation, Sonic realized it was going downhill. Whoever these females were, they looked serious. Running off would only make things escalate, so the hero decided to play nice and do what these three were addressing.

From behind the customer's desk where Andrew usually sat, a young man with jet-black hair and blue eyes came from inside the employee's restroom. His friend Andrew looked very glad to see him return; as for the reason, he didn't know.

"Darien, you wouldn't believe who just stepped in here!"

"What do you mean?"

"It was this blue guy about three feet tall who said his name was Sonic. Can you believe that?"

That name... something about it were-

"Wait, 'what' was this guy's name?"

"Sonic!" Andrew began to get carried away with himself, "And he says he's gonna show me why they call him that soon."

"Do you know if he's still in here?"

"Uh, actually, I just saw him leave out with three girls." Andrew would've pinned a question on his friend, but noticed him walk from behind the counter. "Wait, you're shift doesn't end for another forty minutes!"

"Don't worry, I'll think of a way to make up for it!"

Darien hurried outside, but when he looked both ways, he saw the hedgehog walking down the sidewalk with Trista, Amara, and Michelle. Just how did Trista and the others know him, and what were they leaving to go do?

Trista's house were located only down the street from the Crown Game Arcade, so they arrived to it in no time.

* * *

**_-Inside Trista's House-_**

Sonic sat on one sofa while the girls took seats on the furniture perched across from him. From left to right went Michelle, Amara, then Trista. Each of them held that same stern look, leaving him more perplexed.

"Alright, enough playing nice. What do you three want from me?" Sonic folded his arms.

Trista had a response to give first. "We know about your journey to the past, how you helped your past self defeat both your past and present enemies."

"Yeah, so -"

"So," cut in Amara, "By doing that, you create a rip in time that's not what you'd think is simple to fix."

For what was to be said next, Trista had to stand up from the couch and announce, "My name is Trista Meioh, Guardian and Keeper of the Space-Time Door." Then in nothing but seconds, the Garnet Rod appeared beside the woman so she gripped it with her fingers. "This rod in my hands is the key to the Space-Time Door. When you traveled back to the past, I had to use this to seal the time rip. But if you continue to rip more holes in time, then I can't be sure if this rod will always have the power to help me."

Now it all made sense. Sonic wasn't a person to fool around with time and make holes in it. He needed to assure these girls with the truth.

"Alright, 'now' I see what you guys are saying. I'm sorry to have put you through all of that, but I didn't mean to go back to the past. My enemy had this weird monster called a Time-Eater send me and my friends there."

The atmosphere grew quiet as Trista exchanged glances with both of her friends. They became more curious to know what Sonic had just informed them with.

"Hm..." Trista put a hand to her chin, then looked down at Sonic. "A Time-Eater you said. I've never came in contact with those creatures, but I know that they're really important to watch out for. They have the power to access an infinite number of time holes and suck people into dimensions known as White Space, where time and space get drained of their life and color. So I'm guessing that's what this Time-Eater did to you and your friends."

"Yeah, and believe me, it was no walk in the park. Me and my past self had to travel to each time hole and set them all free." Sonic moved to scratch his head, "So, now that we're all on the same page, does this mean I'm off the hook?"

"No."

Sonic facepalmed into the carpet at this answer. "What? But I told you what happened!"

Helplessly, Michelle laughed at this attitude of Sonic's and decided to let in him on the little secret. "Oh, you silly goose! Who's going to tell us where your nemesis is if you don't?"

"Oh... right," Sonic rubbed his head.

Before another word could be given, a female's shrill scream from outside interrupted them. Immediately Sonic and the girls rushed outside and found a giant robot knocking down buildings with his giant hands and shaking the earth with each footstep while more civilians ran away for their dear lives. The robot closely resembled Eggman and came in orange and yellow.

* * *

**_-Crossroads City-_**

After having recieved a tour of downtown, Akane and Reiko stopped by at the Crown Fruit Parlor, but soon had to leave because they heard this loud commotion too.

"Oh, this is so terrible! And I didn't even get to finish my strawberry banana smoothie!"

"You were on your ninth one," Akane recalled with a annoyed frown.

All of a sudden she paused and made Reiko stop after witnessing a familiar character inside a round floating vehicle. This person didn't have any hair on their head, but a large orange mustache, and dark-tinted glasses. Someone like this had been described by Sailor Galaxia.

"That man looks very familiar," Akane thought to herself. "Hm... should I tell Master Galaxia about this? ...no, she said he wasn't a worthy foe. Still, it wouldn't hurt to see why he's came here."

"Where are we going, Akane?" interjected Reiko.

"Just stay quiet and you'll find out." So Akane took Reiko's hand and began towards where the egg-shaped villian was headed.

By the robot's design, Sonic recognized who this machine belonged to.

"I guess the day would come sooner or later where Egghead invades this city." And as if on cue, Sonic, Trista, Amara, and Michelle could hear from up above, "Ho ho ho! Well if it isn't my archnemesis, Sonic The 'Pesky' Hedgehog!"

Sonic placed a hand to his waist and smirked. "Well it wasn't like I expected to see you show up here either, 'Egghead'!"

While Sonic wasn't looking, his three new acquaintances ran away from the scene.

"Haven't you already learned what happens when you try to take over innocent cities?" Sonic continued.

"Ohh, not to worry! I'll return here to build my glorious empire later. For now I'm here to gather the Sailor Scouts."

"Sailor Scouts?"

"Stop where you are, in the name of Pluto!"

Sonic and Eggman both had to look and find three girls dressed in strange clothing approaching them. Each one wore their own signature colors, and the green-haired figure in the middle held what Sonic remembered to be the...

"Hey, that's what the other girl was holding!"

The similarity between this woman and Trista wasn't too hard to see.

"And who are 'you' three?" Eggman glared at Trista.

"Guardian and Keeper of the Space-Time Gate, I stand for justice and I fight for peace! Soldier of Space and Time, 'I'm Sailor Pluto!"

"And 'we' are her comrades, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune!"

All Eggman could do was laugh at this heroic introduction and be glad they appeared for him to take.

From behind a wall, Darien had taken in the entire situation. "So Sonic already knows about our secret identities. And that other person in the small ship wants the Sailor Scouts for some reason. It's a good thing I left the arcade and followed them."

Akane felt just about the same as she and Reiko watched from behind a wall also.

"Hey, look at the man inside that small ship! Doesn't he remind you of an egg?" Reiko looked away then started to rub her stomach. "Now I think I'm in the mood for an egg omelet."

"Are you that simple-minded, Reiko?" Akane turned around and yelled at the ditsy airhead, "How could you possibly think of food at a time like' this'?"

Tears appeared to be welling up from Reiko's eyes along with how redness overtook her cheeks. "I'm sorry Akane! I don't mean to be simple-minded like that."

Akane sighed then responded, "Then don't talk at all."

These moments with Akane having to correct Reiko never seemed to end.

But as for important matters, Akane realized newer things now: this Doctor Eggman planned to defeat her master by recruiting the rest of the Legendary Sailor Scouts.

How niave this scientific doctor was.

"Sailor Pluto? I can hardly believe you and your comrades are worth watching out for. Soon you and the other Legendary Sailor Scouts will become my pawns in a special plan I'm concocting."

"What plan?" Pluto raised her eyebrow in high suspicion.

For few seconds, the sailor soldier was ignored, then her new foe eventually responded, "Nothing 'you' should be concerned with. For now, why don't you meet the robot who will be escorting you three to my hideout?"

From inside his aircraft, Eggman revealed a remote that controlled his robotic twin. He pulled at the lever and pressed a green button that commanded the robot to come towards Sonic and the Sailor Scouts.

Darien, Akane, and the hushed Reiko watched and anticipated what the Sailor Scouts would do about this.

"Heh heh," Sonic balled his fists up. "I think another workout was just what I needed. Sailor Pluto, you guys can let me take care of the robot."

"Agreed. Then we'll go after the doctor." Pluto narrowed her eyes when she gazed at Sonic's nemesis, then started their part by gathering a ball of energy. "Pluto, Deadly Scream!" From her Garnet Rod, the time-space soldier shot her blast towards him. However he caught sight off this and manuvered his vehicle to evade her attack.

Meanwhile, Sonic stood on the top of a building with a shiny golden ring in his grasp, then soon took in its awesome power and leapt into the air to perform his special Spin Dash Attack. A neon blue trail was left behind the hedgehog as he streaked towards his opponent. Soon after he struck through its abdomen and landed on pavement, the robot collapsed and in different spots exploded; until it was nothing more than a burnt pile of metal.

"Grr! That despicable hedgehog!" Eggman bashed his fists into his Egg Mobile.

Now thanks to Sonic, the villian would need another way to put these Sailor Soldiers under his total control.

"Hm." Pluto didn't expect Eggman dodge this. But it wasn't over just yet.

Sailor Uranus sent her magical attack, then Sailor Neptune. Though when Neptune yelled out, "Neptune, Deep Submerge, the aquatic technique managed to damage him.

"Grr!" Now the scientific genius was drenched to the skin, and left with no choice but to retreat. These women indeed weren't ordinary Sailor Scouts.

Sonic looked up at the doctor and with a victorious grin spoke, "Well, guess these ladies here aren't what you expected, huh Egghead?"

"You'd best silence yourself, hedgehog! The next time I come back things won't be so easy!"

As he turned around and began on his way, he felt a presence approach him and saw that Sailor Pluto had jumped towards his Egg Mobile and latched on with her hands, holding the Garnet Rod at the same time.

"What?" How was it possible for her to leap this high?

But that question didn't linger inside Dr. Eggman for too much longer. He sent Pluto a foul glare and watched her part her lips.

"I thought I told you to stop where you were. You've been suspected for making a rip in time and I can't allow that to be overlooked."

"A time rip? Ho ho ho! For you to suggest I'm responsible for ripping time is hogwash. Besides, whenever I might have done so, it was all for very good reasons." Eggman recieved a deep frown from Pluto after explaining this. "Now why don't you beat it or I'll knock you down to your death instead?"

"Pluto, I hope you know what you're doing," Darien thought to himself.

Still she held onto the doctor's Egg Mobile as he began to make the vehicle shake. Then realizing how persistent this Sailor Scout was, he beat her fingers with his fist and knocked her off that way.

"Ha! Maybe 'now' I can finally be on my way."

Sailor Pluto manage to grab on to the pointed object jutting out the bottom of the Egg Mobile, and held on tightly as he revved up the engine once more.

Her long green hair blew in the wind as he stayed on his way. On the other hand Sonic, Uranus, and Neptune began to chase after her. Darien couldn't help but follow after either, however that was when he bumped into...

"Akane and Reiko? W-what a surprise...!"

"Yeah," replied Akane with wide smile, "Guess Reiko and I couldn't get enough of this area and had to come back."

"Here, take this!" Reiko jumped into the conversation and handed Darien a card that looked to be a torn up coupon to the movie theater. And yet, it'd been expired for ten years.

Could she be anymore brainless, thought Akane.

"Oh... well, according to this, it expired ten years ago." Darien smiled weakly at Reiko, "So... I'm afraid I won't be able to use it."

"Really? Awww, but it was just lying there on the ground. Surely I thought-"

"Enough about the movie coupon!" Akane tried to sound as calm as possible while covering Reiko's mouth. Then she flashed a toothy grin at Darien and continued, "So.. maybe we could get together again tomorrow? This time an amusement park or a resturant?"

With how forward Akane was behaving, Darien grew nervous and felt his cheeks become hot. "Uhhh... well... maybe, if I'm, not too busy that day."

"Great, then see you later!" Quickly Akane took Reiko by the arm and ran off with her. From what she'd learned about the people of Earth, it was said a girl dashing away from a male gave a sign of infatuation. And that was just what Akane needed for her ultimate plan.

It was when they ventured inside another alley that Reiko stopped and opened her mouth. "Wait, Akane, I want to share something with you."

"What?"

For some moments, Reiko looked over her shoulder and grinned with her pearly white showing, but eventually Akane grew impatient.

"Tell me what it is already!"

"Did you see the way he blushed at you? I think that's supposed to mean he likes you."

Akane didn't take the idea into much thought, but maybe for once, Reiko was on the right track.

"Wait... his cheeks 'did' glow red, didn't they? Well that's what I was going for," the dark-skinned woman smirked.

"But when we meet him tomorrow... do you think it's possible that he has a friend I can get with too?"

"Uhhh..." a sweatdrop formed on Akane's head, "That's something you'll have to find out on your own time. For now, we need to find a place to stay for the night, then tomorrow we go to the mall."

"Yes, I'd love to go shopping with you again!" Reiko clasped her hands together. "What are we going to look for this time?"

With a sly grin, Akane replied, "Something that'll leave his jaw hanging."

For an Egg Mobile, the device didn't leave Sonic and the others that far a distance away from it. They'd followed Pluto and Dr. Eggman through about fifteen streets now, expecting her to fall or to end up at Eggman's base.

But she couldn't possibly let go. Letting go would mean she'd have to track Eggman down again. Sailor Pluto had almost had him just minutes ago, until he knocked her off his tiny ship. Unfortunately though, her hands began to slip. With her other palm holding the Garnet Rod, she gradually lost hold and gasped as she were heading towards the ground.

"Oh no!" cried Neptune, "Sonic, please do something!"

"Not to worry, I'm on it!" As they'd kept running, Sonic bursted with faster speed and zipped towards Sailor Pluto, gently catching her into his arms. Then he stopped dashing and said to her, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for saving me," Pluto smiled as she was put down.

"Anytime. So now you guys know about the guy I put up with almost everyday."

Pluto turned her eyes to Eggman who was still hovering away and narrowed her eyes again. "He may have gotten away this time, but next time I won't let him leave my sight. Sonic..."

"Yeah?"

Sailor Pluto shifted her eyes to the blue hero, "I must apologize for accusing you for something you had no intentions whatsoever of doing. Without your aliby, you would've been the one to take punishment and not Dr. Eggman."

First Sonic were quiet, but then an assuring smile glowed on his face. "Nah, it's okay. I'm just glad we all have the -"

...

...

* * *

**_-Inside Trista's House-_**

Blackness was what he'd entered, and it was all Sonic saw before he opened his eyes and found three familiar girls before him in Trista's same house. What had happened to him that made him just immediately black out like that though?

"Uh..." he rose from the couch and rubbed his aching head. "What happened?"

Sitting beside him, Michelle explained, "After that battle you had with the giant robot, you blacked out so we brought you back here."

"No way... but I couldn't have blacked out after just fighting one robot. There.. there was something else too," Sonic turned his eyes to the floor, "There were these three girls called the Sailor Scouts who tried to take out Eggman, then I saved one of them from almost falling and-"

"Sailor Scouts?" This response of Amara's made Sonic pause what he saying. He didn't understand how this'd became a laughing matter, when he clearly remembered seeing three superheroes.

"Sounds like you've been watching too many cartoons. Why don't you go back to your friends and let them know you're alright?"

Sonic remained there and thought over the young woman's idea, then got down from the couch and ended up agreeing. "Yeah, maybe that's all I need. Well, thanks you guys for rescuing me."

"Not a problem," smiled Michelle.

After the hedgehog left and closed the door, the young trio developed serious expressions on their faces.

"That was too close," began Amara, "The Garnet Rod didn't seem to have a full effect on his memories like it should have."

"You're right," added Michelle, "It seems to me this hedgehog is more than we expected. If not for what you said, then he probably would've caught onto us."

"That's the plan, Michelle," Trista grabbed her friends' attention, "Except we want to be the ones to confess it. Serena and her friends should be there too."

Both Michelle and Amara looked into space while in deep thought of this new situation.

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

Sonic returned to the Hikawa Shrine about twenty minutes after Tails arrived, welcomed by Rei who'd just stepped through the front door.

With a small smile and crossed arms she began, "Hey, Sonic! So did you like the arcade?"

He could have easily provided an answer for this question, but because of what took place after the video games, he only said, "It was... interesting.", leaving a confused Rei who eventually followed and slid the door closed behind her.


	11. Chapter 11

**_-Mina's House-_**

"Ring, ring! Ring, ring!"

"Hello?" Mina said into the phone.

"Hi, Mina. There's something important I need to talk to you about," explained Rei.

"Sure, what's up?"

"... remember that ring I said you could have? Well I need it back."

Mina's eyes widened in surprise, but then a playful grin showed on her face. "Sure, what made you decide to want it back?"

"Well it 'was' for me in the first place. The least I can do is kindly accept it since Sonic and Tails are staying here to finish their work."

Mina wouldn't act like she didn't know what Rei were really saying. Normally, Rei kept her emotions hidden so much that people could only figure her out by her actions. Something drastic must've changed the priestess's mind to make her act like this.

"Does he know that you gave the ring to me?"

"No, and there's no reason for him to."

The conversation paused for some moments.

"It would've been easier if you just pretended to like it when he first gave it to you."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"I'm sure he's not all up for the chores you give him, but instead of leaving like Knuckles he's still there. Just try to be nicer to the guy, kay?"

At this time Rei thought back to earlier when Sonic had given his apology.

"Fine, I'll try."

"Good! So is there anything else you wanna talk about?"

"Actually, yeah, but it'll be better when the others are able to come over too. What time are you available?"

"Tomorrow would be better for me."

"Okay, great! See you then."

* * *

_**-Serena's House-**_

It hadn't been long until the moon rose into the sky along with the stars, and Darien finally arrived to his girlfriend's house. They both sat on her bed and Serena's arms were crossed while she kept her gaze off of him.

"Serena, what Rini said was a simple misunderstanding. Akane and Reiko came from out of town and needed someone to show them around."

"Well everyone knows you can take a tour bus or call a taxi!"

Darien laid a hand on her shoulder, hoping she would look at him. "The arcade isn't paying me all that well, so Akane gave me twenty dollars for giving her the tour."

"So that was the only reason you walked around with her?" Serena eventually moved her eyes onto his.

"Of course. No girl is as special to be around as you are, Serena."

"Oh, Darien!"

What started out as a social misconception turned into Serena cuddling against her precious Darien and taking her mind off what was said just seconds ago. Of course someone around Rini's age would have the wrong idea. Serena had been with Darien for too long to see him go behind her back and just cheat.

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Inside Sonic's room, the hedgehog barely finished sharing with Tails his experience with the mysterious three Sailor Scouts who helped him stop Eggman and how one of them called herself the Guardian of Space and Time. Now the fox were more interested in seeing the Sailor Scouts for himself, and were glad to know that Sonic didn't get blamed for causing a rip in time.

"Wow... so you're not sure where they went because after you saved Sailor Pluto you fell unconscious?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Hmm... you think maybe the Sailor Moon heroine you told me about might know Sailor Pluto?"

"Huh..." Sonic put a hand to his chin, "You know what, I didn't think of that! I think you might be onto something, Tails!" Then he smiled and gave a thumbs up. "So the next time we see Sailor Moon we'll ask if she's seen her."

"Yeah!"

Sonic could already envision himself walking up to Sailor Moon, giving her the question, and recieving a helpful answer. Then like he'd told himself before, he would fight alongside Sailor Moon and maybe Sailor Pluto against whatever forces came against them.

"Dinner's ready!" came Rei's voice from the kitchen.

"Coming!" Sonic and Tails replied in unison.

* * *

**_-Eggman's Base-_**

The last time Dr. Eggman's lackeys saw him, the genius were punching different keys into his computer as if pinpointing a specific location, then he walked into the room where he usually came up with his ideas.

They weren't sure what it was he could be devising this time.

Bocoe and Docoe found themselves playing another game of chess, while Bokkun tried watching them to see if he would have any interest, but the game moved too slow.

So the child-like robot let out a yawn then hovered away to gaze through the glass window and out unto the beach's glittering sea. It looked so beautiful when the moon's light reflected against it; a sea of jewels, one might imagine it as.

"I'm bored! Dr. Eggman hasn't given us anything to do and we're all stuck in here until he does!"

"I have to agree with Bokkun on this," said Docoe as he moved a pawn one space forward, "Let us go see what the Doctor is doing."

So together Docoe, Bocoe, and Bokkun went into Dr. Eggman's room. It was large and had walls made of steel. The robots or machines that weren't being used were lined up against the walls. The robotic trio walked down each aisle until they noticed their creator seemingly placing something inside... a girl's hair bow?

"There, that should do it!" Eggman had finished this small task but seemed to feel a presence behind him. He looked over his shoulder and noticed it was none other than his three robots staring at him as if they'd each heard a terrible secret.

Standing beside the doctor was a human girl with enchanting green eyes and long brown hair. She wore a fluffy orange dress and had a smile that could melt maybe anyone's heart.

"What? Why are you bolt brains staring at me like that?"

"D-D-Doctor Eggman?" Docoe spoke up, "Why is there a woman right beside you?"

When it was thought about, Eggman 'had' came into contact with two gorgeous women so far. But niether Docoe, Bocoe, or Bokkun wanted to say anything wrong.

"Oh. You mean this duplicate of a real one?" Eggman looked back to his project, "This is a duplicate of the young pop star named Mikan Shiratori. I will be using it for my plan to capture the Legendary Sailor Scouts."

"Mikan Shiratori?" Docoe and his friends asked in unison.

"At first I was skeptical about using her DNA to create a copy for myself, but then I saw how powerful she is when it comes to singing." Eggman decided to go further into detail.

"Earlier today, before that pesky Sonic and those Sailor Scouts ruined my first plan, I was on my way to the Station Square Library when suddenly a black limousine drove by. I'd been almost knocked down because this large group of teenagers were so persistent in following after it."

The cheers and shouts for Mikan Shiratori to hear had been so loud that day. A second later and Eggman would have been squashed if he hadn't acted fast and stood against the closest wall like paper.

He'd watched the teenagers continue down the street after their adored pop star; the first time Eggman had ever seen anyone recieve this much spotlight. It were as if Mikan had an invisible magnet inside of her body.

Because the doctor's curiosity got the best of him in the end, he'd spectated the singer's performance and learned just what that magnet was...

"Her charisma, her charm, her attitude, and her style. That's how people are drawn to her. Her fans worship her as if she were a deity or a god."

The praises from Mikan's fans had filled the area just as loud as her music. She'd finished her performance and did a bow before stepping down from the stage and being escorted into her limousine. Different people crowded around the security guards in hopes of reaching her, but it'd been useless.

Dr. Eggman had watched this noisy situation from afar and could only think about who that Mikan girl was exactly. Someone who could get this many people to love her was not a person to be ignored. And so at this exact moment the villian had decided how she would fit perfectly into his latest scheme...

"So since I had noticed Mikan Shiratori around the same time I decided to capture the Legendary Sailor Scouts, I decided that she would be very useful in my new plan!"

"How were you able to gather a strand of her hair for this DNA duplicate?" asked Docoe.

"Oh, doing that was no problem at all. While everyone else were so preoccupied with chasing her, I hurried onto the stage Mikan stood on and found a few hair strands lying on it. The average person loses from one hundred to two hundred hair strands a day, so it was practically in my grasp."

"Then what exactly is this plan that you're going to use her for?" queried Bocoe.

A devilish grin played on Eggman's lips. "In due time you three will learn it. There's still more tests that I need to put this copy through before moving on to the next phase. And this time, that blasted hedgehog won't get in my way."

* * *

**_-Crossroads High School-_**

When the clock's long hand moved over the "12," a bell chimed and students flooded the hallways.

Serena walked out the school's entrance door with her friends alongside her, chatting about a quiz they'd all just taken and how glad they were to have vacation soon. Still, waiting to see Lita's return were something they hoped could occur faster. For five more days the brunette wasn't allowed to come to school.

Darien accelarating on his motorcycle couldn't be heard as the young man were still two minutes away. But soon Serena and the others noticed him park beside them and take off his helmet.

"Hi, Darien!" Serena piped, "What're you doing here?"

"I stopped by to ask if you want to go on a date right now."

Her friends were speechless.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was thinking we could go to that new resturant you told me about."

Before responding, Serena had to think. "I get what he's doing! This is to make up for the misunderstanding we had last night." Serena turned her eyes to Darien's, feeling more and more enamored by the second. "Awww, I'm so glad to have such a sweet boyfriend like Darien!"

Soon Serena's love and herself got on the road and sped off while Rei, Mina, and Ami still didn't talk; though Mina finally parted her lips. "I wish someone would show up on a motorcycle right after school and take 'me' out on a date!"

"Yeah... a date sounds like the perfect way to spend vacation right now," Rei muttered this under her breath.

However Mina still heard the priestess. "I don't see why you're saying that when you have someone yourself."

"You mean Chad?" Rei's cheeks glowed a dark pink.

Suddenly a sneeze interrupted the conversation and Rei had to get a napkin from her skirt pocket to wipe her nose.

"There's nothing going on between us."

"Oh yeah? Then why did he come to stay at the shrine in the first place?"

"Because his parents kicked him out of their house and my grandpa decided to hire him as a Shinto Priest Trainee until he decides what he really wants to do."

"Didn't he used to be the lead guitarist in a rock band?"

"Yeah, but he broke his guitar when he learned his parents wanted him to leave."

"Aww... poor Chad," Mina's face grew concerned.

"Well if he used to play the guitar then I'm sure he has a good chance of making a name for himself," Ami finally looked up from the book she'd been reading.

Rei said back, "Yeah. Chad is a good guy, but like everyone else just needs more time to discover who he is."

"Well, you know what they say..." came Mina's response, "If you love something, then keep it close to you."

Sweatdrops formed on Mina's friends heads very quickly.

"Mina, that's not how the saying goes! It's if you love something then 'set it free'!"

"Oh, really?" I guess I forgot that one." It was times like these that Mina's pals wondered how she got morals and twisted them up, but she'd been that way ever since they all met; so they could only sigh.

The atmosphere around the high school students grew quiet and only the sounds of cars and conversations from other teenagers played through.

Rei looked over at Ami and noticed the bookworm's eyes glued onto her novel yet again. She could never figure out how Ami could be whisked away into the fictional world so easily, and without haste.

Cough cough cough.

"Sorry, guys. My coughing went down a little but I should hurry home to take the rest of my medicine."

As Rei began to walk away, Mina replied with, "Well since there's no homework to do can I come with you?"

"Sure, as long as my grandpa doesn't ask you guys to leave the minute we get there."

"Then would it be alright if I brought my school books along with me?" interjected Ami.

"We just had a test! What else is there for you to study, Ami?" Mina asked worriedly.

Before answering this, Ami seemed to grow nervous. "Well I've always tried to stay ahead in my studies."

"Yeah, cut the girl some slack."

At the sound of this voice, everyone looked left and realized that it belonged to Amara.

"Amara and Michelle!" Mina exclaimed, "What brings you two here?"

"We're on our way to the Fruit Parlor," said Michelle, "Would you three like to come with us?"

Cough cough cough.

There those dreadful coughs went again. And the worst part of it was that it sounded worse now that Michelle and Amara were present.

"Well I guess those coughs answered the question." After Amara said this, the tomboy saw Rei look away with embarrassment. "But it's not a big deal. We'll get you some cough drops on our way back."

"Oh... thanks."

"It's no problem,Rei," Michelle grinned sweetly.

Both the violinist and Amara left their friends speechless when they went past them to leave.

Mina had started the topic by saying, "Those two look so nice together. Sometimes I forget they're blood related."

"It's because of how much their personalities complete each other," added Rei, "They're inseperable."

...

...

A school bus went by, then a gray van.

Achoo!

"... well, we should get going since you guys wanna come over too."

"Right," Mina agreed and together the three girls started down the sidewalk themselves.

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

The giggles and the words... the touching of Sonic's ears and rubbing his cheeks... while putting together Hikawa charm bracelets, Amy couldn't focus that well when those giggles and touches on Sonic were close for her to hear and see.

Three human girls had approached the shrine in hopes of getting their fortunes read, but noticed Sonic cleaning Phobos and Deimo's bird bath and immediately fell for him. He just reminded them all so much of stuffed animals, his height was short, his face was cute, and he could talk.

From inside the Hikawa Shrine's booth, Amy could still hear those girls laughing again when her blue hero told them a hilarious joke. There was a chance that the bracelet in her hand would fall apart and her teeth would get sore from how hard she was clenching them.

"You're so funny!" one of the school girl's told Sonic, "If you're fifteen like us, then why don't you go to school?"

"Uhhhh, well I guess I never thought about it," Sonic answered nervously.

"Since you're a hedgehog, does that mean you go out with a hedgehog girl?"

"What?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact he does!" After giving this answer, Amy reappeared before everyone in her red dress and go-go boots.

All Sonic could wonder about was what'd suddenly happened to her Shinto trainee uniform.


	12. Chapter 12

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

To Sonic's disliking, Amy appeared and began making her way towards the group. The school girls watched her approach them in awe as a hedgehog girl looked much more adorable.

"I'm Sonic's girlfriend, Amy Rose!"

One of the school girls replied, "Amy Rose? That's such a beautiful name!"

"Oh thank you!" Amy smiled sweetly.

Sonic felt his arm be snatched and held onto in the manner Amy always clutched him with. What began as a casual conversation now became a girl talk. The human girls went out about how cute he and Amy looked together, asking Amy if they would like to take pictures together. Amy delightfully agreed to it and so Sonic was forced to taking five photos with her.

Surely his face wouldn't look good in each as he hadn't wanted to participate to begin with; during each captured shot, the hedgehog did his best to break free from Amy's affection.

"You two look so cute together," said the second school girl, "You're pink and he's blue. It's almost like how they say opposites attract."

Even as the school girls left the vicinity, Sonic had to hear Amy chatter on about how she believed their pictures turned out, and that she would ask for copies of the photos when those girls came back.

"Hey, you guys!"

Amy and Sonic looked up to see Mina along with Ami and Rei walking their way. Each of the girls could sense that Sonic wasn't feeling like himself while Amy appeared very excited.

"Hi, guys! You wouldn't believe what Sonic and I did just now!"

"Oh?" responded Ami, "What did you guys do?"

Feeling uncomfortable and nervous, Sonic looked away and covered his face.

"Some girls were here a while ago and they offered to take pictures of me and Sonic together! I can't wait for them to come back so we see how the pictures turn out."

Rei knelt down beside Sonic and aimed a teasing grin at the hedgehog. "Well it's too bad we weren't here to see that. Sonic, did you guys finish all of your chores today?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Ami, Mina, and I will be in our room hanging out, so you guys can join if you like."

"What about the rest of the gang?" asked Amy.

"Yeah, they're on their way too."

"Sonic, do you want to come with us and hang out in Rei's room?" Amy asked Sonic.

"Nah. I think I'll go down and see what's happening at the game arcade."

Amy hadn't been given much details about this Crown Game Arcade except the fact that it was one of Serena's favorite spots and it was the place Darien worked at. The fact that Sonic began enjoying it intrigued her and therefore she hoped to visit this place with him someday, but for now she would let the male hedgehog go alone.

After giving his friends a farewell, Sonic took off and left them curious of his sudden departure.

* * *

_**-Outside Mystic Ruins-**_

Click click click. Click click... enter... no success.

A frustrated growl escaped Eggman as he wasn't making any progress at all with a new search he'd began. As of now, the doctor was located in his base built outside the exotic Mystic Ruins.

"This doesn't make sense! This search engine has been programmed to retrieve data farther back than ten thousand years! So why is it that I'm not finding anything?"

Eggman remembered those moments when Galaxia explained to him the history of the Legendary Sailor Scouts. That segment of information was enough to give him the results he wanted, so why nothing appeared on his screen was very odd altogether.

"Hmm..."

Nehelenia's name was typed into the search engine and to Eggman's hope the empress's name gave him multiple results, whether it be links to stories or tales about her.

"Doctor Eggman, what'cha doin' on your computer?"

As Bokkun randomly appeared on the side of his master, Bocoe and Docoe took positions on his other side. Together they irritated Eggman. Surely there were other activities for them to take part in besides looming under him like unloved puppies.

"Nothing you three need to be concerned with. Go find something else to do."

"Ohh, but Doctor, we've played our games of chess and checkers so many times," explained Docoe.

"It's true. We've lost count," added Bocoe.

"So can we please watch and see what you're doin', Doctor Eggman? Please?" Bokkun begged childishly.

"Fine! Just don't touch anything."

Eggman sighed and went to the first site on the search results as his lackeys anticipated what the details the site would say. They were surprised to see the name Eggman had typed in and wondered why he did so.

"Hey! That's the name of the queen we met the other day," said Bokkun, "Why're you lookin' her up on this computer?"

"If I research her then there's a chance I'll find something about that other woman."

Everyone knew exactly who Eggman was referring to.

When the next page was finished loading and Eggman scrolled down to its first paragraph, he found it to be a page out of a book of historical myths by a male author named Nathaniel E. Stewarts.

Eggman along with his robots neared their faces closer to the screen to read this portion of Stewarts content.

_"Of all the empresses thought to have lived during the Medieval Times, there is one who tends to be thought of as the most beautiful. Her birth date or birth place is unknown, but what is known is this: Long ago, when the Queen of the White Moon lived, she was envied by Nehelenia and so she trapped the evil empress inside a mirror, where she would live out eternity knowing a beauty more fair than hers existed. Hundreds of years later, Nehelenia found servants who vowed to free her from the mirror by retrieving the sacred Golden Crystal, a jewel that could only hope to have its power unlocked by finding its right owner."_

After reading this specified paragraph, Eggman visited another site and scanned it for more info.

_"The Golden Crystal is a mythical object thought to be the item which the Empress Nehelenia hoped to attain in order to break free from inside her mirrored prison. This object is seen in few stories as myths never explained its origins."_

"This Golden Crystal sounds like the Master Emerald in a way," Docoe thought out loud.

"But we know the Master Emerald to really exist. This Golden Crystal sounds promising but we still need to learn more," Bocoe replied to Docoe.

The mechanical duo watched Eggman scroll down the page until his eyes landed on more interesting words.

_"For those who believed in the myths and folklores, they felt that they Golden Crystal was born inside of a person's body."_

"It all makes sense!"

Bocoe, Docoe, and Bokkun all watched Eggman rise from his seat and begin pacing towards the door to his laboratory.

"For those back in ancient times to believe that the Golden Crystal was born inside a person could only mean that person holds immense power! As it is indeed only a myth, I am sure that's the power that gold woman holds!"

Eggman entered his laboratory where the clone of Mikan Shiratori lay inside a pod and he pushed one of its buttons to release her.

Docoe hurried over to Eggman and asked confusedly, "Doctor Eggman! You're saying you believe this myth of the Golden Crystal?"

"I'm saying that gold woman holds a power not to be taken lightly and this Golden Crystal is the only evidence we have so far."

The pod's green fluid came flowing down and then it's glass door opened to release Eggman's newest creation.

"This discovery causes a slight change in my plans, but not to worry! Everything is still according to my liking. Bocoe and Docoe, release Metal Sonic from his pod and take him his practice arena. Bokkun... send our dear Sonic another T.V. message." A dark grin crept onto Eggman's lips. "Informing him of my schemes is the least I can do before him and his friends suffer."

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Serena was determined to giving the narration to the story she just shared with her friends. Obviously it had been resolved the night before but she was in a room with other girls. The perfect opportunity to pour out all of those feelings and emotions girls and young women always dealt with.

Her friends gasped in reaction and each had different responses to say.

"So Darien might see this girl again?" asked Lita.

"No, Darien already cleared that up. He was just giving her a tour around town so she already knows her way around."

"But that is strange for her to ask Darien when there are taxis and tour guides everywhere," said Mina.

"I don't care how it was resolved. Something about it still doesn't seem right."

All eyes turned to Rini as she gave this bold statement.

"You mean you don't think that girl will leave Darien alone?" Amy queried Rini.

"Girls. Instead of gossiping we should be putting our minds on more important matters," interjected Luna, who'd accompanied Serena and took a seat on Rei's bed next to Artemis.

Serena replied with disagreement, "Like what, Luna? Nothing big has been going on lately."

Before anyone could respond to this last sentence, a high-pitched MIDI song filled the room. It came from Serena's pocket and was the song titled, "Moonlight Densetsu."

"Serena...? Is that a ringtone?" Ami along with the others wondered curiously.

Serena hurried to retrieve the cause of the music from her pocket. In doing so, she revealed a pink cellphone decorated with crescent moons and hearts.

"You had a cellphone? How did you talk your parents into getting you one?" Rei questioned the blonde.

"I had enough money saved up this month. I don't go to my parents for every little thing. Hello?"

Not a word could be said as Serena's friends, including Rini were too astonished to say more. She had not only kept this cell phone a secret, but she didn't blow her money like she was known to do!

"Huh? A date at the Fruit Parlor? Sure! I'll be ready in half an hour."

As Serena's astonished girlfriends watched her end her phone call and rise to her feet, she told them all that Darien had asked her out on a date to the Fruit Parlor and that he would pick her up in a little over thirty minutes.

"Another date? I know Darien is busier with his new job but still! You two are really moving along," Mina said amazedly.

"Well in three more months it'll be our anniversary. We just can't get enough of each other."

It did seem to be true that Serena and Darien were madly in love. What about Amy and where her relationship with Sonic stood?

"When we don't have so much school we really need to hit the mall and look for cute guys."

Amy meditated on these words of Mina's and felt the urge to respond. Even at the age she was, the Rosy Rascal wished to go on dates and have good times with her own special someone too. Though up until recent, they weren't on good terms.

"Mina, that's always your suggestion." Rei got up from the floor and went over to her nightstand to get her medicine. She felt a lot better today as she wasn't having to blow her nose that often, though her grandpa recommended she be cautious and still take more.

* * *

_**-Crown Game Arcade-**_

Closer than ever, Sonic stopped directly in front of the Crown Game Arcade and stepped inside to see it filled with less gamers than the day he first visited.

"Sonic! Good to see you again."

Sonic noticed Andrew behind the counter and decided to walk over to him.

"What brings you here today?"

"Just wanted to swing by and see what was happening. But I guess it's not much today," Sonic replied as he looked back at the mostly filled room.

"Yeah. Well you know school has started back and most of the gamers are home doing whatever homework their teachers assign. It'll change when winter break comes." Andrew came from around the counter and looked down at Sonic once more. "Now that you're back there's a favor I'd like you to do for me."

"Sure. What's up?"

Andrew turned around and to a young man playing a spacecraft game asked if he could watch the arcade while he left for a while. Then he turned back to Sonic who was now puzzled. "Could you come with me somewhere so we can see why your name is Sonic?"

"Heh heh! You actually remembered that?"

"Of course I did! How often is it that someone meets a talking animal who's name is Sonic? Never, I'm sure."

Given a favor and glad to fulfill it, Sonic motioned to getting on the back of Andrew's motorcycle and putting on a helmet before he realized he in no way needed to.

"Why do I need to get on your motorcycle when I have these?" Sonic pointed at his sneakers.

"Don't you want to get on so we can get to where we need to go?"

Andrew was becoming more and more perplexed by this behavioral response.

Sonic winked and wagged a finger as he asked, "You said you wanted to see why they call me Sonic, right? Follow me to the freeway."

Without Andrew's response, Sonic jumped onto the top of the Crown Game Arcade and began leaping across rooftops to reach the appointed destination. Already Andrew was awestruck by how this little creature could jump at such a high distance and make his way from building to building.

"You're coming?" Sonic asked from far away.

"Y-yeah!" Andrew inserted his key and started the ignition. Then after revving the engine by twisting his bike handles, he accelerated and sped up to keep after his new supersonic friend.

He kept his eyes on the hedgehog with every chance he had while moving through the paved streets. Sonic made leaping across buildings look so easy, as if this were all a video game he had conquered prior to today.

"Yoo hoo! We're almost there, Andrew!"

Andrew was aware also of where the closest freeway lie. He drove along it sometimes when he visited or dropped off his girlfriend at the Crossroads City Airport. With how much space freeway roads contained, he was sure to learn just how Sonic got his name. Though that reminded him of something extremely important. What about the other cars driving on the road?

Within a matter of five minutes, the friends were entering the 145 intersection and approaching other drivers who had places to go and be. The drivers noticed Sonic and their eyes almost popped out of their head when they saw how fast he was running. What on earth was an animal doing running through the freeway, and without a vehicle?

Already Andrew began to see what Sonic had meant before. He was driving his motorcycle at seventy miles per hour and this speedster kept the same pace, running backwards with his arms behind his head.

He had to be kidding.

"Hey, Andrew! This speed we're moving at is fine but I prefer running at this pace!"

As if his eyes weren't widened already, Andrew's jaw fell when he saw Sonic move in between the freeway lanes and take off in a streak of blue light.

"No way!"

Civilians couldn't help but react the same way as they were quick to pulling out their phones and calling others to let them know of the blue animal they saw speed through the freeway.

* * *

_**-Outside Crown Fruit Parlor-**_

Dressed in a slender button dress and pink hair bows, Serena watched her sweet Darien slow down beside the curb and let her to get on the back of his motorcycle. She had barely went to the Hikawa Shrine to spend time with her pals, but her darling had asked her out again. She couldn't possibly say no.

"Darien." Serena rested her head on his shoulder and spoke with a loving tone. "In three more months it will be our anniversary."

Darien stopped at a red light and acknowledged his princess. "I know. Whenever I get my next pay check we need to decide what gifts to buy each other."

Serena made a soft giggle. "That's easy. I know exactly what you want this year."

Red trade places with green and so Darien drove on through.

Serena moved her chin to Darien's shoulder. "Together. Just you and me. No school, work. No bad guys to keep us busy. No one to interrupt us."

Before they realized it, Serena and Darien were in the parking lot of the Crown Fruit Parlor as Darien found a space for his motorcycle.

In a gentlemanly manner, Darien opened the door for Serena and led her inside. They looked for empty seats to take and Serena was led to a table located in the far corner of the room; though saw that it was filled.

"Darien, you made it!" said a brown haired girl seated on one side.

Serena narrowed her eyes then looked back up to Darien in wonder of who this woman was.

"You must be his girlfriend, Serena."

Maybe it wasn't of the utmost importance, but this girl wore a pretty attractive dress and looked at Darien for attention. Serena held onto to this idea and asked Darien if they could talk in private back outside the Fruit Parlor.

"Alright! We'll be waiting for you!" said Reiko, who then took her milkshake and began drinking it, "Akane, don't you want a milkshake?"

"There's no time for that. When Sailor Moon comes back we execute our plan."

Darien rubbed his forehead and sighed.

"So this is your idea of a date, Darien? Having milkshakes with that girl Rini told me about?"

"After she paid me for giving her a tour around town, I figured going out for a milkshake wouldn't do any harm. She invited me and I told her I would come but I would bring a friend too."

"I'm more than your friend! If this was just going to be a hangout then you could've asked me on a date another time."

Darien grew startled as he could begin to sense the sadness in Serena's voice. Her eyes beginning to gloss with tears. Her voice becoming lower and hoarser.

In the truth of it all, he'd planned to hang out with Akane and invite Serena so therefore he could get to also spend time with her. But now what began as a date was turning into a disaster.

"Serena... you-"

Darien outstretched his arm towards his love but she still turned away and ran from him. His actions outweighed his words, she felt betrayed and wanted nothing more but to be away from him.

"Serena!"

* * *

On her third milkshake, Reiko looked up as she noticed Darien return to the table with a melancholic demeanor.

"Darien? What ever is the matter?"

"Serena misunderstood the reason you two were here and ran off before I could explain it to her."

Reiko received a glance from Akane and as if prompted parted her lips. "Well don't worry! If you want I could go and talk to her."

"You'd really do that, Reiko?"

"Of course, that's what friends are for!"

And so Reiko rose form the table and hurriedly started for the door after Serena. Meanwhile, Akane cupped her chin into her hands and opened a conversation with Darien.

"Serena! Serena!"

Running down these cement roads in heels really had turned out to be a challenge for Reiko. She looked every which way for a girl with blonde pigtails but never caught sign of one. At least until she reached a corner and turned on it to see Serena pacing along the crosswalk.

Everything about this day was in no way the same. Darien had no romantic relations with Akane though inviting her to what he said was a date still nudged Serena. Just what was the reason she had to tag along?

"Serena!"

"Huh?" As she heard someone call her name, Serena looked over her shoulder and noticed an individual who she'd least expected to see right now.

Reiko finally caught up to Serena and panted for breath from all of the running she did. When she lifted her head, Serena replied, "You're one of the girls I just saw from the Fruit Parlor."

"Yes. My name is Reiko," Reiko gave a friendly smile.

"Well hi, Reiko. Uh, why did you follow me?"

"To see what was wrong of course! Darien told us what happened and so I volunteered to follow you!"

* * *

Darien found himself walking outside with Akane since she mentioned they should wait for Reiko and Serena to return.

"I'm sorry that things turned out this way. Maybe we should've planned to hang out another time."

"No, don't take the blame for this," Darien insisted, "I'll talk to Serena about this later when she's calmed down."

He hoped she'd be calmed down.

"I'm afraid there won't be any time for that."

Darien turned his eyes back to Akane as he didn't understand her reply.

* * *

"Who are you?"

From start to finish, Serena had watched Reiko stand before her and transform into a different set of clothes. This attire looked very similar to the sailor scout uniform she transformed into.

"No way...!"

Sailor Aluminum Siren presented herself and began in a serious tone, "You thought you could get away, but now we have you right where we want you!"

Serena raised her eyebrow questioningly then suddenly noticed Aluminum Siren's hair grow and move towards her.

Darien hadn't expected to get into a predicament like this. He'd witnessed Akane transform into a Sailor Soldier of some sorts then be tied around her whip and held bound while she stood behind him and spoke into his ear.

"You were just a pawn in my plan. Soon Sailor Moon will appear and she'll have no choice but to hand over the Silver Crystal when she sees you're in danger."

"No!"

All as she had planned.

Lead Crow revealed a dagger and placed it near Darien's neck.

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Horrible feelings kicked in.

Phobos began to caw frantically. Soon Deimos followed suit. They made so much noise that Rei heard it from inside and she and the others rushed outside to see what all the commotion was.

"Phobos! Deimos!"

Black feathers fell from the sky as Rei's pets continued this mysterious behavior. She held out her arms for them to come down and perch on them, but they never descended.

Soon Chad and Grandpa Hino appeared, running over to Rei and asking what was going on.

"I don't know why they're acting like this! They've never acted this way before!"

Ami yelled out, "Maybe they're trying to tell us something!"

That was it.

Rei thought back to the last vision she'd received after reading into the fire. How Phobos and Deimos aimlessly flew about now resembled the manner in which the crows from that vision flew. Except another mystery still remained: who was that female shadow standing in their midst?

* * *

_**-Outside Crown Fruit Parlor-**_

Sonic had so much fun speeding through that freeway with Andrew getting to see it all. But his emerald eyes spotted something. From up above, he could see a woman carrying someone... with her hair.

Andrew parked beside Sonic on the side of the freeway and made a concerned frown. "Hey. Why'd you stop, Sonic?"

Never looking back at Andrew, Sonic answered, "I just remembered there's something I need to take care of."

After saying his farewell, Sonic leapt down from the ledge of the freeway and dashed after that mysterious blue woman.

* * *

Serena wasn't sure where Aluminum Siren was dragging her off to, but soon a familiar person came into view and she cried their name out.

"Darien!"

"Serena!" Darien wrestled against Lead Crow however was kept down as she still had that dagger.

"Why are you doing this?" Serena glared at Lead Crow.

"There's no need to get into that."

If Sonic was correct, that girl headed eastward towards where he learned the Crown Fruit Parlor was located. He leapt across skyscraper after skyscraper until he reached his destination and spotted the same girl.

"Serena!"

In just a heartbeat, Sonic was ready to move quickly and save Serena and Darien from these apparent villains. Though he regained his cool and crouched down to keep himself hidden, peeking from the top of the building at this fiasco at hand.

"We know who you are and we already know what we want from you," Lead Crow went on.

"What are you talking about? How do you know who I am?"

Darien and Sonic grew worried of what the Sailor Animamate meant to say.

"You are our master's enemy."

Serena's eyes widened.

"Defender of Love and Justice... you are Sailor Moon."

Sonic gasped and his mouth hung open.

Those eyes... those long strands of hair tied in peculiar hair buns... and evidently those white angel wings... Serena was that very same one.

Sonic could only get up from the ground and stare at Serena with a totally new perspective. She was more than just the teenager who hung out with her friends and craved sweets and liked going to the Crown Game Arcade to play Sailor V. She was a super hero.

His body nudged for him to move but his mind kept him frozen stiff.

Now with her secret revealed, Serena listened to Lead Crow threaten her and acknowledge Darien as the hostage.

"No, Serena! Don't listen to her!" Darien pleaded.

Serena heard these words but her heart said different. Exactly as Galaxia explained Serena would behave. Weakly.

Lead Crow never heard an answer as Serena did her best to not let her emotions win her over in this battle. She didn't want to see her sweet Darien be stabbed to death, and at the same time she knew how much trouble they would all be in if she handed over her Sailor Crystal.

Soon she opened her mouth.

"... I'll give you the crystal."

"Serena...!"

"Good girl."

Aluminum Siren released Serena from her hair and watched the girl hesitate to keep her end of the deal.

Serena now had to do as she audibly declared, however an unexpected interjection made its way into the atmosphere.

"SONIC WIND!"

Lead Crow looked to the source of this voice and discovered a gust of wind coming her way. She shielded her eyes in the process while her partner did the same. Both Sailor Animamates, after suffering this strange blue tornado uncovered their eyes and found their hostages to be gone.

Lead Crow growled and threw the dagger to the ground.

Like an innocent child, Aluminum Siren studied their surroundings and walked over to Lead Crow. "Akane, where did they go?"

"How should I know?"

Lead Crow's newfound anger was too much for her to hold in. She'd finally had Sailor Moon where she wanted her, but Mother Nature came to the rescue. The most horrible failure that Lead Crow was sure she ever had.

Aluminum Siren kept looking around until she turned back to her comrade and found her to be growing furious.

* * *

After putting a fair amount of distance in between them and those villains, Sonic led Serena and Darien away into an alley and waited for them to catch their breaths before talking.

Darien looked up and was amazed as he'd finally seen the friend Rini talked about. His resembled a forest creature but stood and behaved like a human.

"I know you. You're one of Rini's friends that she told me about from the beach."

"Uh... yeah, that's me! Sonic's the name! Sorry we had to meet under these circumstances." Sonic put out his hand and gave Darien a handshake. Though when Serena's eyes met his, he lost his words.

"Sonic..."

Her eyes turned away and her fingers found their way fidgeting with the end of her dress.

"I know you're probably wondering why I kept my true identity a secret from you. Please, know that eventually I was going to tell you. I just wasn't sure if it was safe to tell you so soon."

Darien looked from Serena to Sonic. He too hoped that the hedgehog would understand Serena's words.

Surprisingly a toothy smile found its way on Sonic's face.

"Nah, it's fine. I know you were only hiding it from me to keep your identity safe."

Serena smiled with delight as she realized everything would be okay.

"Instead of sitting around why don't we go back and show those girls what you're made of?" Sonic gave a thumbs up.

Serena nodded in agreement to this.

* * *

With no telling how Galaxia would feel about this failure, Lead Crow and Aluminum Siren started to leave the vicinity when they instinctively evaded a golden disc and stopped to see where it came from.

"Sailor Moon!" Lead Crow balled up her fists. "So, you've decided to do the smart thing and come back after all. And I see you've brought your pet with you."

"I'm no one's pet, lady! Instead of cracking jokes you should keep your eye on your opponent!"

With a serious expression on her face, Sailor Moon locked her eyes on Lead Crow's and summoned her Eternal Tiare. Which at that same instance Lead Crow revealed her whip.

Both girls were fired up to annihilate each other.

Darien's life was at risk and for Sailor Moon that was a big no-no.

Lead Crow was expected to return with the Silver Crystal but now Sailor Moon was ruining those plans.

"You won't get away with putting Darien's life at risk!" Sailor Moon tightened her grip around her staff.

"You won't get away with the Silver Crystal!" Lead Crow lunged torwards Sailor Moon and swung her whip at her, making a loud cracking noise but missing her target. The red-haired warrior attempted and attempted to strike again until she made the heroine stumble to her feet.

"Good job, Akane!"

Sonic couldn't help but notice how enthusiastic Aluminum Siren was about spectating this battle. Her team mate was winning, leaving Sailor Moon on the ground to be taken down easily.

"Don't let her get you down!"

Darien confusedly looked to Sonic as the hedgehog had began to cheer on Sailor Moon. Aluminum Siren reacted in the same fashion and took offense to this hedgehog's efforts.

Sonic went on, "Make that girl eat her words!"

"No! Make Sailor Moon eat her words!"

Sparks of electricity came from Sonic and Aluminum Siren's eyes and clashed against each other. They kept their competitive glares on each other, hoping to pierce the other's ego. Sonic cracked a cocky grin so Aluminum Siren slipped on the same expression as if to say, "Very well. We'll see which of our friends wins after this is all over."

Darien obviously supported Sailor Moon but the man felt uneasy about Sonic and Aluminum Siren competing over who gave the best encouragement.

Both hedgehog and Sailor Animamate returned to cheering on their friends as the fight commenced, trying their best to yell louder than each other, waving their harms and jumping like actual cheerleaders.

Lead Crow's whip came down though Sailor Moon raised her Eternal Tiare and caused the whip to loop around it, sadly witnessing it be snatched out of her grasp and taken into Lead Crow's.

"Looks like there's no way for you to fight me now."

Sonic grew quiet as he noticed this, however perked his ears as he heard Sailor Moon respond otherwise.

"You forgot about this!"

Sailor Moon removed her tiara from her forehead.

"MOON... TIARA... MAGIC!"

As he watched that tiara fly, Sonic and Darien felt a new sense of hope. Together they watched it speed torwards Lead Crow and knock her to the ground as she barely dodged. A second later and the tiara would've sliced her in half.

"Akane!"

Enough was enough. Aluminum Siren had seen her friend almost be killed.

Sonic awoke from his enthusiasm for Sailor Moon and noticed Aluminum Siren try to rush towards her, so he picked up his feet and tackled the Mermaid Soldier to the ground.

Never saw it coming.

"Hey!"

Quickly, Lead Crow picked herself up from the ground and tossed the Eternal Tiare aside. Now or never would she take care of Sailor Moon and retrieve the Silver Crystal. Though an interesting idea came to mind. Bringing the Silver Crystal along with its carrier would surely please her master even more.

So with another intention set in stone, Lead Crow took the first step to victory however turned around as-

"Akane!"

Lead Crow's agonizing scream beat on everyone's ear drums as she felt that golden energy tear through her insides and disenegrate her. She was no longer the serious, cunning, power driven Sailor Lead Crow. Now she was a pile of glittery... moon dust.

"No...!" Aluminum Siren rushed over to her friend's side and knelt over her. "Akane..."

For the strangest reason, Sailor Moon didn't feel positive about this defeat. She and her allies watched Aluminum Siren weep over the remains of her partner and say over and over, "Come back to me!"

Aluminum Siren sniffed and looked up to see that blue animal standing over her with concern coloring his face.

She wiped her cheeks and asked, "Why did you have to do this to her?"

Sonic rubbed his head sheepishly. "Well, that's how it goes when we're enemies."

Darien and Sailor Moon watched Sonic comfort Aluminum Siren by patting her back. The scatterbrained woman then stood up and said to Sailor Moon, "You're going to pay for this!"

Then she just... ran off.

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Phobos and Deimos seemed to settle down and around this same time. It brought more confusion to everyone as Rei took them inside her room and let them sit on her bed. They hadn't the slightest idea for this occurence.

"It appears that Phobos and Deimos were reacting to something. Only we don't know what it is and whatever it was has subsided for now," suggested Grandpa Hino.

Tails complied with Grandpa Hino. "It had to be something serious if that's the case. Rei, do your birds ever hang out with other crows?"

"Well, sometimes another bird or two shows up near the bird bath but I see more of them on telephone wires."

Before anyone else could share their thoughts, their attention turned to the series of caws that could be heard from outside. Rei slid the front door open and with the others stepped down the veranda to discover dozen more crows on Hikawa Shrine grounds.

"Where did all these birds come from?" asked Artemis in a surprised manner.

These crows who welcomed themselves to the shrine stayed in one spot. Chirping with calmness and not in the same manner as Rei's crows earlier. Though what occurred next deliberately astonished everyone.

Both Phobos and Deimos moved from Rei's hands to per onch the concrete in front of the other crows. They all landed on the ground and one who appeared to be holding a crow's feather went up to Phobos and set it in front of him. Phobos examined the feather, let Deimos have a look at it, then they both began to caw in an almost despairing sort of tone.

"Oh no..."

As everyone turned to Amy when she muttered this, she explained this scene to them. "Rei's birds are sad because that feather belonged to one of their friends who has moved on to the afterlife."

everyone looked back to the crows and began to feel sympathetic for their loss. Rei began to understand and see the situation through her intuition as well. So the priestess stepped away from her friends and joined the crows.

Afer some moments when she sat there and stroked her crows in hopes of comforting them, they including the rest of the flock ascended and returned to flying around their spot before making departure.

This startled Rei as she hurried to her feet, standing in their midst.

"Hey... this is the vision Rei told us about!"

Rei didn't think much of it before, but as Mina made this statement... the realization hit her.

"It was me... I was the sihoulette in that vision."

The fire showed crows gliding around Rei for as long as its embers stayed. There hadn't been much else that occurred, though now as the revelation manifested, Rei experienced its true purpose.

Phobos retrieved the feather from the ground and handed it to her. Silently she stared at it, then laid her eyes back on them. Her heart started to sting.

"So you two want me to hold on to this then?"

Rei's friends became confused as they wondered what she was murmuring to Phobos and Deimos.

It would be quite a while before the priestess saw these two again, but she understood their reasons.

"Rei-" Luna could speak no more as Rei rose to her feet and watched Phobos and Deimos take flight after the rest of the crows. This farewell seemed a tad bit strange, Rei smiled weakly rather than pleading for them to stay and never leave.

Luna and the gang jogged over to the almost stoical Rei who knew they had questions for her.

"Why did you let your crows go?" asked Chad.

"They need to spend some time away from here."

Still Chad was perplexed.

"Crows and other types of birds still have feelings like we do. So in the same way we get over losing loved ones, we must let them heal," clarified Grandpa Hino.

Chad and everyone else looked to the sky acknowledging the Shinto Priest's words. Rei's crows could still be seen soaring after their fellow mammals, torwards the new chapter in their lives where they wouldn't be able to reside in the Hikawa Shrine, but could in the land where they would live newer experiences, recover from the loss of their dear friend, and eventually learn that overall life went on and everything would work together for the good.

Hints of a small smile played on Chad's face. "Huh..." the young man put his hands on his waist. "Then I'm definitely sure this time away from the shrine will be good for them."

Very much did Rei's other friends feel the same way.

* * *

_**-Crossroads City Park-**_

When there would've been a response, Darien's pager rang.

Serena and Sonic, sitting on the bench with the young man noticed him read his pager then slip it back in his pocket.

"Andrew just paged me. I have to meet up with him at the bank to take care of some financial issues." Darien turned to Serena and kissed her forehead then hugged her. "I'll call you when I get home later on."

"Alright."

Only in muteness could Serena watch her boyfriend get up from the bench and start down the pavement to reach the lot where he'd parked his vehicle. Earlier's events somewhat traumatized her, as she reacted to the problem heroically yet felt cruel.

Sonic could say he were on the same boat.

"Serena... don't let yourself get down about this. You were only doing your job. Heh... I have to admit, it still was pretty cool fighting beside you."

Serena managed a smile when she heard these intimate words.

"When I saw you at the beach dealing with that first baddie, I'd had no idea a good guy like you existed." Awkwardness rammed into Sonic's face as he found himself scratching his head. "Uh... maybe I'm getting too mushy about this."

"No, it's fine."

Sonic placed his eyes on Serena's as hers were set on the clear lake beyond them. She now looked so refreshed and put to ease.

"I guess I forgot that bad guys have at least a little heart too."

Sonic smiled as he thought to his arch nemesis. "That's right. Sometimes we do forget."

By this time, the others were sure to still be at the shrine. Plans for Serena's date changed so she had nothing to do but return to the shrine; doing homework wasn't to her wanting. As for Sonic, he pretty much was able to spend free time also. Maybe another short run to get his blood pumping.

"Mr. Sonic!"

Sonic looked over his shoulder and found the child who he knew carried this high-pitched voice.

Cream scurried over to Sonic with Cheese in her arms.

"Mr. Sonic, I'm so glad we finally found you! My mother and I came here to tell you something that's very important."

"What's this something?"

Before Cream could answer, another familiar individual appeared and stole his attention.

"Vanilla."

Serena was fascinated to see a anthromorphous creature in the adorable form of a rabbit, along with the bluish infant in her hands. The rabbit making her approach behind them appeared to be their mother.

"Sonic, it is a pleasure to see you again." Vanilla noticed Serena and sent the girl a warm smile, "You must be Serena, one of the friends Lita told me about."

"You met Lita?"

"Yes. Everything will be explained once we get to somewhere where we can talk. Would anyone mind joining my children and I at the Hikawa Shrine?"

"Sure! We were just about to go there too," Serena grinned sweetly.


	13. Chapter 13

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

After formal introductions between the Sailor Scouts and the Rabbit Family, Vanilla and Cream were given black tea and escorted to sit in front of Rei's coffee table.

"Thank you, dear for your kind hospitality. Now we can move on to why my small family and I came here."

After noticing Cheese, Serena and her friends each got to pet his head, and in the end Rini asked if she could hold the precious infant. So now Cheese sat bundled in her arms while his friends carried on with their discussion.

"What was your dream about?" Rei asked Cream.

"A lady and her friends were killed."

Shortly after this response, Cream could feel tears well up in her eyes.

"Oh, sweetheart." Vanilla pulled her daughter in a motherly embrace as the tears spilt down from her face. Having to be reminded of this horrible event from her nightmare was difficult enough for the small child.

After some passing moments, Cream lifted her face and felt her mother gently dry her tears with her hands.

Rei looked to her and felt the child's emotions. "Thank you, Cream. You've said enough for now."

As Vanilla was to give the details to Cream's nightmare, Amy kindly led Cream and Cheese outside while the Sailor Scouts began to hear what Miss Vanilla had to say.

"I was sitting down reading a book when my children came with tears in their eyes. I felt so helpless even after they described the dream to me, and so that's when we decided that our dear Sonic might be able to help us figure out why my daughter experienced that horrible dream."

Rei took in all that was said and took a sip from her tea. "What did she tell you the lady looked like?"

"Like a queen, with a big black dress."

"What about the person who killed her?"

"From what my children told me, it was woman clad in golden armor. Her eyes were full of evil and hate for the other woman, so she killed her and her minions leaving no standing."

Just as Ami had figured.

* * *

"It's been a while since we've had a meeting, but with the news we've all just received it's time for another one," began Luna with a serious tone.

Just as Vanilla had described, the woman who was assaulted and murdered was none other than the last enemy they faced, Queen Nehelenia of the Dead Moon Circus. Though questions of her murderer lingered deep in everyone's hearts. Who this mystery person could be had endless possibilities to it.

Sonic, Amy, and Tails were assigned chores to complete even though they told Rei that had already finished today's tasks. As for the Rabbit Family, Lita took the liberty of guiding them back outside to give them a tour of more areas around Crossroads City.

"Guys? Um, I know this probably isn't the best time... but Sonic kinda knows that I'm Sailor Moon now."

Silence alone made Serena feel guilty for giving her statement. Her friends were near to shocked when they heard this news. When Serena felt giving details to the situation would better the discussion, it only grew worse.

"You came in contact with two new enemies?" Luna asked Serena surprisedly.

"Why didn't you contact us?"

Serena turned to a now upset Rei who gave this interjection and was clenching her fists.

"We could've helped you defeat them! Everyone knows you don't fight battles alone!"

"I wasn't alone! Sonic rescued me!"

At that instant Serena slabbed her hand over her mouth for speaking so carelessly. The blonde saw Rei hush herself as well and retake her seat on the floor. Now there would be a lot more explaining to do.

As Serena sat back down, the air in the atmopshere lost its tenseness.

"Well now that he knows your second identity, we have no choice but to tell him and the others everything," Luna spoke in a calmer tone.

That sincerely was all they could do at this point. For the Sailor Scouts to not reveal their secrets would mean they weren't being honest. Sonic had proven himself to be a hero, so therefore, it was in the Sailor Scouts' best interests to make their confessions.

Within an hour, they called their anthropomorphic friends inside and shared everything with them. How they were Sailor Scouts, Crystal Tokyo in the 30th century, why Rini was sent back from that time, and their connection with Nehelenia. Truly, all the Sonic Heroes were speechless and couldn't respond to this like the Sailor Scouts hoped for. But now a stronger bond had been formed between them...

Besides wiping the floors or preparing bento boxes, Sonic was in the back of the Hikawa Shrine hanging laundry. Reaching for the clothesline and pinning each item up there was of course no problem. A shame that he couldn't get the whole job done in a sonic second.

While the hedgehog was preoccupied with hanging more clothes, a foreign-looking couple appeared not too far from him. They both carried hair at incredibly long lengths and eyes the shade of midnight blue, however the man wore a white suit whereas the woman had on a fluffed yellow dress.

The woman held an infant in her hands and uncovered its face to kiss its forehead.

A blanket kept Sonic's eyes from not catching any sign of these mysterious characters. He continued with his chore even as the woman set the infant down and began muttering to her partner.

"She'll become a wonderful guardian for the Princess. This letter next to her will help explain everything."

Both the woman and man were sure about this action they were about to perform. With no more time to spare, the woman moved the infant over for her partner to kiss its forehead. Then she kissed it.

"Huh..."

Sonic's hands froze as he was about to pin up a pair of boxers. His hedgehog ears picked up sounds which he was confident were actually there. Quickly, the Shinto Trainee paused his chore and stepped over to where he believed the sound came. All he found in the spot was something wrapped inside a blanket and a piece of paper next to it.

"Oh..."

With peaked curiosity, Sonic knelt down and examined the blanket. It moved up and down, as if it were... breathing. So ever so gently, he reached for the blanket and flipped it over to find a baby sleeping.

"Oh...! A baby?" Sonic murmured, "... what's a baby doing out here?"

Tails could be seen dumping trash while Amy was asked to clean Phobos and Deimos's bird bath.

Ever since two days ago when Sonic made those bento boxes, Amy hadn't talked to him that often. She interacted with him when they were around their other friends, but other than that, he kept his distance.

A sigh escaped her lips as she finished adding clean water to the bird bath and returning the bucket to its place inside the wooden pantry.

Cream and Vanilla were gone as they were being shown around Crossroads City by Lita. Sonic was most likely still tending to the laundry, so Amy decided to explore her surroundings.

"Serena... I'm just trying to look out for you."

Since the meeting had been concluded, Rei sat with Serena on the veranda outside her home and began trying to apologize for her harsh outburst.

"Yeah, I know. But sometimes you go overboard."

"I have to go overboard so it can get through that thick skull of yours."

Soon Rei found herself close to having another quarrel between Serena and herself, though her lips froze as an important thought came to mind.

Those four brooches.

"Rei? Earth to Rei!"

A loud yell filled the area before anyone could respond. Serena and Rei were the first ones to hurry to the backyard of the Hikawa Shrine and find Amy behaving very appalled about Sonic. They discovered what was in his arms and grew befuddled themselves.

"Sonic?" Serena began, "Why are you holding a baby?"

The answer was there but his lips kept stiffening.

Tails, Mina, and Ami entered the atmosphere and saw what their blue friend was holding.

"Serena just asked you a question!" Amy yelled at Sonic.

"I... I just..."

As Sonic was arrogant and fearless when a new evil arose, this situation at hand left him weak and helpless. How was he supposed to explain how he found this baby?

Tails wanted to hope that this was all just a huge misunderstanding... but Sonic never opened his mouth to explain himself.

With enough time wasted, Amy stomped over to the infant and moved its covers to see it had a furry gray face. And crescent moon on its head?

"Huh?" Amy couldn't understand this second physical trait. She looked back up at Sonic with fire blazing fire in her eyes. "Why does this baby have a crescent moon on its forehead? Sonic, explain yourself!"

"Amy, wait a minute."

A puzzled Amy hushed herself when Artemis and Luna went over to the baby and asked Sonic if they could examine its face. With how much constant yelling it'd heard, it opened its eyes and looked up at the Moon Cats.

They gasped when they saw the color of its eyes.

"Those eyes...!" Artemis shifted his eyes to Luna, "Luna, those are your eyes."

Guilt began to well up inside Amy as everyone else gathered around Sonic and the baby. She grew curious to seeing the baby again, though her heart nudged her to go the other way.

"Those are my eyes..." Luna repeated in a overwhelmed manner, moving the infant blanket to reveal tiny cat ears. "And this isn't a baby. It's a kitten."

When Artemis received a stare from Luna, the same thoughts streamed through his mindbank. This kitten was connected to them somehow, but for it to be so that could only mean that Luna and him were its...

"Hey, guys. I think this letter came with the kitten too," informed Mina, who'd picked it up the message from the ground and was now studying it.

When everyone placed their eyes on it they felt galvanized its the words were in a language that no one had ever read.

"Huh? Why does the writing look like this?" asked Serena.

"These symbols look like hieroglyphics," suggested Artemis, who then turned to Tails, "Tails, you would probably be able to figure this out."

Mina handed Tails the letter and so the intelligent fox began using his high IQ to translate what'd actually been written.

_**Dear Luna and Artemis,**_

_**Before I explain why I wrote this letter to you, I would like to say thank you for helping Rini learn to become a Sailor Scout. I am sure she's grown into a beautiful young lady, so I am sending her a present. Please, take special care of this gift, bring her up to be the most wonderful guardian for my precious daughter. May everything go well with you and our other friends.**_

_** Sincerely, **_

_** Neo Queen Serenity**_

"Oh, I get it now. The Queen wants us to help raise this kitten so she can be Rini's guardian. Just like Luna and Artemis were sent to be with Serena and Mina," Rei gave this solid clarification.

"If that's the case then doesn't that mean Artemis and Luna are this kitten's parents?" asked Mina.

"That can't be the case." Redness overtook Luna's cheeks as she didn't want to admit this truth. "Artemis and I have never had such intimate relations like that. We're just friends."

"Y-yeah, everything Luna just said."

"Well we just read what this letter says," insisted Mina, "Who knows? Maybe somewhere down the line something wonderful will spark between you two."

Serena added to Mina's comment, "You have to admit that you two have been friends for a long time."

"So what! That doesn't automatically prove that Artemis and I are to romantically involved with each other!"

And so what began as a casual discussion turned into a heated debate between the Moon Cats and the Sailor Scouts. Ami, Tails, and Sonic didn't add input as they felt they didn't belong in it. Rather, they felt the need to sneak away from the area and go to a place where there wouldn't be denials or disagreements.

Sonic looked up and noticed a missing individual his mind went elsewhere. In a most gentle manner, the hedgehog set down the kitten and snuck away with Tails behind him. The chattering of their friends had been enough for them get away quietly, so Ami found the hedgehog and fox sneaking away and decided to follow.

* * *

Sitting at the kitchen table with her chin resting in her hands was what Amy found herself to be doing right now.

The door was slid open and she noticed Sonic step in.

"Hey."

He closed the door shut then made his way over to the chair opposite from Amy's.

Amy looked at Sonic and found that he wasn't returning any glances. Rather, he locked his eyes to the plankwood floor. What did he want exactly?

"Noticed you left and didn't stick around to hear the letter that came with the baby."

"Oh." Amy turned her eyes to the floor as well. "What did it say?"

"It just said for Luna and Artemis to take care of that kitten since they're its parents. That it was sent back here from the future to be Rini's guardian."

"What?" Amy responded surprisedly.

"Yep. I was blown away when I heard it too."

"Wow... Mina and the others were keeping so many secrets from us. Now that we know they're Sailor Scouts, does this mean we fight alongside them?"

"Sure, why not?"

Sonic was already aware of own his feelings on this decision, and was sure that his allies would also be glad to team up with Sailor Moon.

Silence soon made its way into the room.

Most hesitantly, Sonic gathered words and spit them out. "L-looks like I'm getting away from the point."

Amy looked up as she felt a hand land on her shoulder and she saw those dreamy eyes pinned to hers.

"Amy. About what happened outside..."

"It's fine. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I accused you of being the parent of that baby and never gave you any time to explain yourself."

She'd felt so sure that Sonic had a connection with that kitten, but creating a ruckus and making a false accusation led her up to this point. She couldn't face Sonic even if he was standing in front of and trying to comfort her.

"I'm not holding that against you."

As if struck by lightning, Amy lifted her face and discovered her friend with the sweetest , kindest smile on his face. Her actions not seeming to matter anymore.

"You mean you forgive me?"

"Yeah. That's what friends do."

"Sonic..."

Amy's eyes twinkled with renewed optimism. Together the hedgehogs sat in silence as they'd resolved their issue and once again got back on good terms.

"Woah!" Sonic reacted uneasily as his self-proclaimed girlfriend got down from her chair and tackled him into tight embrace. Her giggles were constant yet assuring. Amy Rose was feeling like her original, bubbly self again.

* * *

Because Sonic had kindly asked them to wait outside while he confront Amy alone, Tails and Ami found themselves standing under one of the shrine's cherry trees. For all they knew, their other friends could have still been insisting with Luna that she had feelings for Artemis and soon those emotions would blossom. But they couldn't worry.

"I thought it was interesting how you were able to read the Queen's handwriting," Ami said to Tails," Is that the first time you've ever read hieroglyphics?"

"Um, no I wouldn't say so. I've grown used to reading hieroglyphics ever since I met Knuckles and he sometimes had me translate languages from his island's ancestors."

"Is that so? Maybe one of these days I should visit Angel Island and see what's really like."

"Yeah. I would be happy to take you there in the X-Tornado."

Tails and Ami smiled at each other as both geniuses were delighted about this hopeful expedition they were planning, however the sight of Mina approaching them with Luna and Artemis's child in her arms destroyed the pleasant vibe.

This child had everyone surrounding her.

"Since Artemis and Luna are parents now, I think it's best if they stay with me until the kitten matures," Mina shared this idea with Ami and Tails.

"Uhh, Mina? Actually, I was going ask them if the kitten could stay at my place," Serena interjected with a rude tone.

A cool wind blew through the Hikawa Shrine, as if it were the last gust of air that would bring ease to everyone.

"Sorry guys, but I had already planned on asking them if they could stay here with me. The Hikawa Shrine is peaceful and that's just what their baby needs," Rei reasoned with her best friends.

"Uh oh," thought a fearful Tails.

"Are you saying that our house isn't peaceful?" Rini asked Rei.

"Well, when you have someone who argues with her brother and gets scolded by her own mother that makes it a hostile environment."

"Oh yeah? Don't I have a say in this? I'm the owner of the father who will have this kitten!" argued Mina.

"I'm the owner of the mother who will have this kitten!" Serena also insisted.

"As important as both of those facts are that doesn't change the fact that the kitten would be better off staying here!"

"Oh come on, Rei!" barked Serena, "You're not sure if your grandpa would let them stay here. Your house is already full as it is with Tails and Sonic."

"Whatever, Serena." Rei hushed herself and inhaled a deep breath. "There's only one way we're going to settle this. We'll let Luna and Artemis decide where they want to raise the baby."

* * *

_**-Mystic Ruins-**_

"This is pointless!"

With a task explained and given, Nyanko and Chuuko were then sent to Earth, knowing exactly where to go and what to do; though for the oddest reason they ended up inside a jungle both dressed in archeologist uniforms.

"Why are we walking around this jungle when we can be finding Sailor Moon and stealing her Sailor Crystal?"

"Didn't Master Galaxia tell you? There's another part to this plan of ours."

Chuuko brushed away another leaf so she and her partner could continue on through.

"Another part? Why wasn't I informed of this?" Nyanko queried as they walked.

"Because, this part of the plan was my idea."

Chuuko ceased her footsteps and grabbed Nyanko's attention. By this time the young women had reached a clearing and could see a colossal structure up ahead. This building had stood tall for hundreds and hundreds of years and was the same building that Sonic and Knuckles once had to venture into.

"Why'd you stop?"

Chuuko took off her hat to reveal her mouse ears. They began moving as if picking up important noises. "We're not the only ones in this jungle."

Accelarating, revving sounds... clanking metal, fired plasma gunshots, trees falling to the ground... explosions.

With no other choices, Nyanko removed her own hat and allowed these different noises to enter her feline ears.

Chuuko looked to Nyanko and asked with a serious tone, "You hear those noises too, Nyanko? Nyanko?"

One of Dr. Eggman's most advanced and earliest creations, Sonic's first rival and doppelganger, blasted and spiraled through each opponent with no problems whatsoever. His armor designs were of course to resemble his fleshy counterpart along with supersonic speed. And now, on account of their last encounter in Final Fortress, Eggman took it upon himself to create a practice arena to increase his creation's strength and stamina.

This creation's name? Metal Sonic The Hedgehog.

Endless amounts of black hedgehogs rushed head on torwards Metal Sonic with packed fists and plasma ray guns. They were programmed to carry speed faster than sound themselves, however their blue challenger still manuevered through their tactics.

Up until now, Chuuko could still not find Nyanko. The petite girl turned her eyes in every direction and started retracing her steps.

"Nyanko... there's no way you could have just disappeared so suddenly."

As a cat was known to be the predator and chase after its prey, known as the mouse, Nyanko launched herself from out of a bush and assaulted Chuuko.

"Nyanko!"

Tackling Chuuko caused the girls to roll like the wheels on a bicycle and crash into a tree stump. Chuuko yelped in pain from the harsh contact, got up to her feet and dusted herself off then looked at Nyanko.

"What has gotten into you?"

Nyanko, feeling quite satisfied with herself, cracked a grin across her face.

"Why do you always pick on me?"

"Oh come on, I was just having a little fun. Lighten up, Chuuko."

While Nyanko dusted her own clothes off, Chuuko folded her arms and wore the cutest frown on her face. Nyanko found this tackling to be humorous, but Chuuko didn't.

From up above, spectating Metal Sonic's routine from over a wooden fence, Tin Nyanko and Iron Mouse were intrigued and kept watching him take down the Shadow Androids. At least until all of his opponents were annihilated and two more robots could be seen approaching him.

Just as Iron Mouse had said she heard.

"A new record!" said the silver robot, "Doctor Eggman will be very pleased when he hears about this."

"On the other hand, it's obvious who he's going to make clean up this mess," replied the robot who was gold, as they looked around the pile of destruction Metal Sonic created.

The robots sighed and comically revealed their brooms and dustpans to begin cleaning the area.

Metal Sonic's attacks had created some holes in the ground. His red eyes picked up an unidentified object lying in one of the ditches began analyzing it.

Iron Mouse gasped then exclaimed, "Look!"

In the direction Iron Mouse pointed, Tin Nyanko looked and could see Metal Sonic with something in his hands. An item short and round, reminding her of an instrument.

"What is it?"

"The item that we'll need in the plan I told you about."

Nyanko could put up with only so many games. The Cat Soldier hopped over the fence and leapt down to gracefully land on her feet. Iron Mouse followed suit and together these Sailor Animamates went up to the robotic trio.

Metal Sonic lifted his head and set the instrument down. The robots with him became confused about his behavior and asked for the reason behind it.

"Is something the matter?"

Eventually, Metal Sonic's friends turned around and saw two mysterious humans walking up to them. They grew afraid and ran behind a defensive Metal Sonic in wonder of who exactly they were.

Metal Sonic's analyzer wasn't clear about these humans. It told him only about their nationality, ages, height, and weight.

**Nationalities: Japanese and Japanese**

**Ages: 15 and 16**

**Height: 5'4 and 5'7**

**Weight: 90 lbs. and 110 lbs**.

"Who might you two be?" The gold robot asked Tin Nyanko and Iron Mouse.

"Who we are isn't important right now. What's important is that you hand over that flute over there or we'll turn you robots into junkyard scraps," declared Tin Nyanko.

Both the gold and silver robot turned their sights to where Tin Nyanko pointed. On the ground they indeed saw a small wooden flute. Though how would this serve as a benefit to these ladies here?

Metal Sonic retrieved the instrument from the ground and examined it. His systems identified this object to have an unusual power level. It wasn't his purpose to hold on to this flute, though allowing it to fall into the hands of trespassers seemed wrong; this miniscule object could have possibly been of that much importance. So he tightened his grip around it.

"Bocoe, let's go and inform the Doctor about this."

The Sailor Animamates watched the robot pair flee back to whence they came. Meanwhile, Metal Sonic turned his eyes back to Tin Nyanko and Iron Mouse.


	14. Chapter 14

**_(A/N: There is something awesome I must say before you guys move on to the next chapter of this fanfic! On Wikimoon org, you can look up the Sailor Scouts and find that there are so many more Sailor Animamates. Some were only seen in the manga or live action shows. But I like the way some of them were created! So I'm still going to incorporate them into this story. So the Sailor Scouts will have to deal with a lot more than they thought! Sailor Animamates' names are combined with kinds of metals and names of animals. I just wanted to share this with you!)_**

* * *

**_-Mystic Ruins-_**

For as fast as their robot legs would carry them, Bocoe and Docoe scurried back into Dr Eggman's base to inform him of the visitors who invaded Metal Sonic's practice arena.

Metal Sonic on the other hand stared his opponents down. This would be the first time he waged war with humans.

"If fighting is the only way for us to get that flute from you, then so be it," Iron Mouse spoke to Metal Sonic with a determined tone."

Sailor Tin Nyanko. 16 years of age. An arrogant and mischevious kind of woman. This Sailor Animamate swore her loyalty to Galaxia after murdering the guardian of her home, Planet Mau in order to obtain her Sailor Crystal and become a Sailor Scout. Tin Nyanko had insisted that Sailor Mau's death was caused by the fact that two old friends of hers had left Mau to help a young girl they had befriended at the time.

Sailor Iron Mouse. 15 years of age. Innocent and sweet looking, though villiainous and determined to getting whatever her heart desires. In the same manner as the other Sailor Animamates, Iron Mouse killed the leader of Planet Chuu to selfishly become the Sailor Scout she is today and gave her allegiance to Galaxia.

"Chuuko. Keep this robot busy."

Iron Mouse nodded and began to try having Metal Sonic pursuit her. Mice were known for being fast crawling rodents, she sped across the ground at a rate almost as fast as the Shadow Androids.

"Unbelievable!" exclaimed Docoe.

Together Bocoe, Docoe, and Eggman spectacted the beginning of this battle from Eggman's master computer screen.

"That girl's speed matches almost that to Metal Sonic's!" Docoe continued.

"Doesn't that mean Metal Sonic and Sonic aren't the fastest beings alive anymore?" asked Bocoe.

"As you two can obviously see, it appears to be that way," Eggman answered Bocoe's question, "These two girls were sent here by someone. And I have the surest feeling of who exactly that sender was."

In Eggman's laboratory, or to be clearer, in a cozy, womanly furnished room, Mikan Shiratori sat on her couch and watched Metal Sonic from her screen. Not only his movements, but also Iron Mouse's evasive actions caught her eye. Never did she look away.

Iron Mouse couldn't keep stalling for time much longer, and so her partner stepped into the battle and caught their opponent off guard.

"Gotcha!"

Metal Sonic's collision with a tree sent it crashing down to the jungle floor. He sprang to his feet and prepared to slash his challengers, not knowing that the flute had slipped from his metallic fingers.

"Nyanko! I don't see the flute in that robot's hands anymore!"

"Well, let's hurry and nab it then!"

Both Tin Nyanko and Iron Mouse rushed full speed ahead to confront Metal Sonic and clash until the machine was obliterated. They threw punches, sent kicks, however Metal Sonic activated his martial arts memory bank and started blocking these hits with his hands. Knuckles the Echidna and Espio the Chameleon's actions were copied into this bank as codes, so he incorporated those skills into this fight at hand.

Tin Nyanko twirled to perform a roundhouse kick. Iron Mouse clenched her fist to send it into Metal Sonic's yellow core built in the center of his chest. However both the leg or fist were snatched so and the Sailor Animamates felt themselves be thrown and land inside a bush.

A growl escaped this patch of leaves as Tin Nyanko poked her head out and was now highly irritated with Metal Sonic for throwing her into this spot. Leaves, sticks, and dirt caked her face as well as her uniform.

Iron Mouse appeared soon after and was angry as well.

"Let's end this!"

The Sailor Animates hurried from within the bush, stretched their arms forward, and pointed their wrists at their target to shoot golden orbs from their bracelets.

Metal Sonic avoided these shots and made his way torwards the girls to deliver swift kicks of somewhat justice.

Tin Nyanko stepped to the side and avoided this encounter, although Iron Mouse didn't perform the same action in time. The Mouse Soldier took on Metal Sonic's damage and flew headfirst into a tree, her ally calling out her name however being unable to recieve the cry.

"Chuuko!"

Tin Nyanko looked back at her partner and discovered her falling unconscious. It was to no one's knowledge, but Tin Nyanko felt like an older sister to Chuuko. Their relationship was a kind of love and hate friendship, similar to what viewers could see in the classic television show, "Tom and Jerry" between the feline and mouse named Tom and Jerry.

An anger so wicked grew and sprouted inside Tin Nyanko as she saw that her ally wouldn't be rising from the ground anytime soon. She glared at Metal Sonic as a gun magically appeared in her hands and put her finger on the trigger to make the first move. This gun was known as the Cat Paw Gun, merely because it came in the form of black cat's hand.

Continuously threading this data of Tin Nyanko's abilities into his memory bank, Metal Sonic turned around and retrieved a missle launcher that'd belonged to one of the many Shadow Androids.

Soon shots flew everywhere. Tin Nyanko yelled as she watched energy blast free from her gun, only to see it miss its target and turn a bush into ashes. All attempted shots were sent into the area around the fighters, slowly destroying the Mystic Ruins.

Iron Mouse's eyelids opened and she witnessed streaks of black and blue along with bullets and missles moving all at such high speeds. With her keen animalistic instincts, she could determine these fighters exact movements.

"Metal Sonic and that girl are moving so fast I think I'm getting dizzy!" Docoe said to his pals as his face took on the cartoonish form of a dizzy character.

"Doctor Eggman, what if Metal Sonic doesn't defeat this girl?" Bocoe asked his superior.

"Have the two of you forgotten who created Metal Sonic? This girl may have what it took to get this far, but she won't last."

A 99.9% chance that Tin Nyanko wouldn't succeed, according to Eggman's calculations. The Sailor Animamate's strategies and manuevers didn't seem that much different than the kind of combat Metal Sonic faced in the past, whether it be his duels with Sonic or Knuckles. So nothing new was under the sun.

Tin Nyanko wasn't sure of how long she had been firing energy blasts and failing miserably. Though when handed the opportunity, she landed back on her feet and fired five more shots.

Metal Sonic took simple steps to avoid these attacks and kept his missle launcher ready for further use.

The robotic hedgehog was growing tired of Tin Nyanko's little games. Once more he had to move from harm's way of her shot, except he showed no signs of precarious behavior... at all; for he kept still and only had to tilt his head to avoid the next blast.

The noise of another tree catching on fire and flames crackling were the only sounds filling the area. Embers licked away at the tree as time moved. Though no individuals made any jerks or movements.

There seemed to be no success as Tin Nyanko had put all of her might into her Cat Paw Gun and never hit Metal Sonic. Why?

Metal Sonic leapt to and fro since his opponent fired another series of shots. He then dashed forward and sent an uppercut punch into Tin Nyanko's jaw.

Total domination.

The Cat Paw Gun fell out of its owner's hands. She, left empty handed and defenseless, picked herself up from the ground while wiping blood from the corner of her mouth and watched Metal Sonic stand a fair distance away from her. Just who was this robot?

"Nyanko!"

Iron Mouse started to approach Tin Nyanko's side, though her efforts became futile as Metal Sonic prepared to end their showdown with a final missle. He prepared to pull the trigger to see Tin Nyanko vanish.

Though suddenly, a dark female appeared in front of Tin Nyanko.

"Sailor Buttress!"

This Sailor Scout also was affiliated with Galaxia in the hopes of taking Sailor Moon's Sailor Crystal, except she had a different role to play. She shouldn't have been here rescuing anyone...

Metal Sonic's analyzers locked onto this new character. Unfortunately they weren't able to provide that many details, except for her type of attire and the fact that a black fan sat in her hand.

**Age:?**

**Nationality: Japanese**

**Weight: ?**

Sailor Buttress's outfit held a strong resemblance to Galaxia's in every way except that her armor and crown came in the shade of ebony.

Tin Nyanko was speechless and couldn't find all the words to say. "Sailor Buttress, you-"

"Silence."

Buttress tightened her grip around her belonging and flicked her wrist.

"Galactica Chaos."

Waves of dark energy arose from Buttress's fan raced torwards Metal Sonic with the intention of swallowing him. The robot acted quickly and protected him inside a Chaos Shield, Buttress's attack swallowing the life and color from everything around him, which left a huge portion of the Mystic Ruins scarce and lifeless looking.

"O-oh my!" Docoe and Bocoe grabbed onto each other for dear life after witnessing this fatal disaster, "Did you see what that woman did just now, Docoe?"

"Yes, I certainly did! It almost scared me to death!"

Eggman's lackeys might have been very afraid, still clinging on to each other and shaking in fear, but he was only intrigued, as well as Mikan.

Metal Sonic disabled his shield in preparation to send an attack to this new foe, but niether she or those other fighters were around anymore.

"What?" Eggman gasped astonishingly.

Just as Metal Sonic's thoughts processed, that human trio was no longer in the vicinity.

Tin Nyanko and Iron Mouse reappeared and found themselves on the top of a mountain. Down below they could look and see tree rooftops, even the tower of Knuckles's ancestors. Though a third person didn't seem to care for sightseeing.

Her subordinates turned around with lips already parted.

"Sailor Buttress! We had no idea you would show up out of nowhere like this!"

"Yeah, no idea whatsoever. Did Master Galaxia send you?"

Within seconds, Buttress lunged forward and punched Tin Nyanko in her lower abdomen. The atmosphere became awkward as no one expected this and nothing could be said to clarify it.

Tin Nyanko took the pain stoically; for she knew why the dark sailor scout did this.

"You two stand no chance against that metal robot! Pathetic!" Buttress pointed out with a cold tone, "It shouldn't be my job to keep fighting your battles for you. If you're not able to carry out our master's plans then you're better off not being in Shadow Galactica at all."

Tin Nyanko and Iron Mouse had to keep respect for Buttress. She was a Sailor Scout like them, however in their alliance she held a higher rank. Galaxia made Buttress her right-hand woman, meaning she helped plan their strategies and supervised the Sailor Animamates to make sure that all was going according to plan.

So in today's events, she had to sum up that Tin Nyanko and Iron Mouse didn't succeed.

"I know you both remember why you were brought into this oraganization. It would be a shame if we took what has been promised to you away."

"N-no! Sailor Buttress, Nyanko and I can make things right! Please, just give us another chance!" Iron Mouse pleaded tearfully.

Tin Nyanko kept a solid expression but the Cat Soldier hoped for the same mercy. Their plan would have been executed if no foe like Metal Sonic were in the equation. His speed and power were unlike anything the Sailor Animamates had ever faced.

Tin Nyanko could feel Buttress's frown aimed at her. She stayed calm until the crueler soldier spoke, "Very well. I will give you another chance."

Internally, the Sailor Animamates were relieved.

"It will be your last."

* * *

_**-Crossroads City-**_

"I must say, some of the tea shops and bakeries in this city are very lovely!" Vanilla commented to Lita as they paced down the sidewalk, "One of these days my children and I will have to try one of their desserts."

"Mother, Lita said she loves to bake sweets and cook food just like you!" Cream announced with a sweet tone.

"Well it's just some of my hobbies I picked up from my mom growing up," Lita scratched her head sheepishly.

"Now now... don't be so modest, dear. I would love to sit down and try one of your dishes when we have time. In fact, maybe I could let you skim your way through some of my recipe books when we go back to your apartment."

"That's a wonderful idea!"

"Chao chao chao!" Cheese agreed with Cream happily.

As could be told by this pleasant banter between Lita and the Rabbit Family, their tour through Crossroads City had been a splendid experience. Since they lived in a cottage only near Carnival Night City, Vanilla and her babies weren't outgoing, except for when they rounded up their usual group of friends and threw Cream's birthday parties. There was so much to see and so much to do in this city.

Around this same time, the sun was beginning to fall down torwards the horizon and set. So Lita was leading the Rabbit Family to her apartment so they could finish unpacking and settling in.

Cream came to a halt and looked over her shoulders as if she'd heard something.

"Cream?" Lita and Vanilla stopped as they noticed the little girl in this trance.

"Forgive me. I thought I heard someone following me."

"Well you thought right!"

At the sound of this high-pitched, excited voice, everyone turned back forward and found a figure with cutesy red boots floating in front of them.

"What the-?" Lita stepped back in shock.

Vanilla, Cream, and Cheese didn't like the looks of this scene. This person was very, very familiar.

"You're that mean child who brings Sonic TVs from Doctor Eggman and they explode when the video clips ends," Vanilla responded sternly.

"Mean? I'm not mean! It's not my fault the Doctor creates these TVs that way. Enough chit-chat."

Bokkun reached inside his bag and revealed the same device Vanilla mentioned. If it were something that would cause destruction, then there was no way Lita could let it manifest.

"Take that thing back to Doctor Eggman or else you'll have to deal with me!"

"Huh?"

Lita snatched Bokkun by his wrist. "You heard me!"

"Let go of me!" Bokkun wrestled and whined until he broke free. "I'll just take it to Sonic himself!"

Lita and the others witnessed Bokkun fly away with the T.V. in his scrawny hands.

"Oh no!" cried Cream, "Mother, we can't let Bokkun make it to Sonic and give him that T.V.!"

"Lita, let's hurry before our friends are all injured from this."

Lita nodded and motioning to activating her Scout Communicator and contacting her comrades.

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

With every moment used to decide, Luna and Artemis wouldn't stay at anyone's house. Not Mina. Not Rei. Not even with the leader of the Sailor Team. Instead, thanks to Tails for his opinion, they agreed to raise their kitten in the Mystic Ruins where the atmosphere was more serene and peaceful.

They and their friends stood outside Rei's veranda even after discussing it.

"Tails, now why did you go on and convince Luna and Artemis to raise their kitten in the jungle?" Serena asked, sealing her anger with a measly smile.

"W-well, it's not exactly in the jungle. They would stay in the workshop I built alongside the Station Square Train Stop."

"Hmm..." Mina put her hand to her chin and wondered deeply, doing her best to hide her madness over the situation herself.

Maybe Tails didn't suggest the best idea, but Serena and Mina pretty upset about it. On the other hand, Rei thought up a plan.

"Don't worry Tails. You're only trying to look for out their baby. I was thinking of making us all another batch of ricecakes tonight."

"Really?"

"Yeah, of course, there's no sense in making so many if Luna and Artemis won't be here."

An anime sweatdrop formed on Tails's head. If it wasn't Serena and Mina getting on his case for for his idea to Artemis and Luna, then now Rei was behaving just the same way.

"Heh heh! Don't worry, Tails!" Sonic patted his buddy on the shoulder, "Rei is just- YOW!"

Rei stood behind Sonic with a broom that was broken in half while Amy began tending to her blue hero's enormous lump on his head.

"Hey, Rei, what's the big idea? Huh?"

Amy's response was interrupted as a series of beeping noises filled the area. Rei, Serena, Mina, and Ami answered each of the incoming calls from their Scout Communicators to see Lita's face digitize.

"Lita, what's the emergency?" asked Ami.

"There's a robot with making its way torwards you guys to destroy Sonic with an explosive device! We should transform and help prevent it!"

All five of the Sailor Scouts nodded, notified the Moon Cats of the situation, then began their transformations.

In his mind, Sonic wondered who this robot carrying an explosive device was. Then the realization dawned on him.

"Uhh... hey, guys-"

MOON ETERNAL... MAKE UP!"

What Sonic hoped to stop took its course anyhow. Serena reappeared as Sailor Moon and together with the other Sailor Scouts they readied themselves for the supposed villian.

Artemis gently picked up Diana with his mouth and hurried into Rei's house with Luna behind him. Then he reappeared outside as his daughter now had her mother to watch her.

"Who is this bad guy Lita's warned us about?"

"She didn't give us that detail," Mercury answered as she looked back at the white cat.

"Guys, this is all just one big misunderstanding."

All eyes turned to Sonic when he stated this and Mars parted her lips.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Look up at that robot that's coming our way and you'll see what I mean."

The Sailor Scouts saw what their hedgehog friend was saying and hesitantly let their fists down. The robot appeared to be small like a child, his hands carrying that very same object Lita spoke of.

Bokkun reached the ground and carelessly flew past the Sailor Scouts towards his target. "Hello! Doctor Eggman has another T.V. message for you to watch."

The Sailor Scouts exchanged glances with one another as they were unsure about this T.V. message business. Their furry friends didn't seem that afraid, so maybe Sonic was right.

Sonic crossed his arms and watched Bokkun set down the device and press a switch to turn its screen on.

Sailor Moon and the others gathered around Sonic to see what came on the screen and together they saw an image of Doctor Eggman appear.

"Eggman!"

The mustached genius was sitting in a chair with his hands on the its arms. "Ho ho ho! Well if it isn't Sonic the Pesky Hedgehog and his little friends! Now before you wonder why I've asked Bokkun to send you this video, take a look at these!"

Eggman took a stack of flashy tickets off his table and presented them for his enemies to see. "These are tickets to a pop-star concert that's taking place tomorrow night! As you already now, someone like me doesn't have the time to attend this. I am too old, and prefer to spend my time doing older people things. I've counted enough tickets for you to bring all of your friends along, so the choice is yours, Sonic! Be there or be square!"

Shortly after this, Eggman's video stopped.

"Psh! Tickets to a concert! That is definitely just another one of his old tricks!" Amy thought out loud.

"Still, it would be wise to go to this concert and see what scheme Doctor Eggman is really up to," advised Mercury.

"Alright! It's time for me to go now!"

"Huh?" Everyone gasped as Bokkun hovered away.

The T.V. started beeping and Sonic acted fast.

"Everyone, watch out!" He picked up the T.V. and with all of his strength threw it up into the air.

His allies ducked and took cover as it exploded and left smoke everywhere. After uncovering their eyes and standing to their feet, everyone discovered slips of paper falling from the sky. Artemis went up to one and read the words on it. "These are the same tickets we just saw Doctor Eggman with."

One by one Artemis's comrades retrieved tickets and read them over, all having the same thoughts on their mind.

"Mikan Shiratori? Serena, isn't this the pop star that you watched perform when we were in junior high?" Mercury asked Sailor Moon.

"Yeah. But I thought she quit the singing business and moved out of Tokyo."

"Not exactly. Her producers scheduled her next tour to be outside of Tokyo, but in another few months she's coming back out here to work on her next Album titled, "Where Will This Love Go". I can't wait until it comes out!" Venus squealed girlishly.

"Honestly, I don't see what's so great about her," said Mars, " She sings all of these songs but has never felt what the lyrics say to her fans. She just sings whatever is favored at the time and her songwriters get paid big bucks for that."

"Ohh, Rei... now you said you want to be a singer someday. Maybe you should learn to appreciate Mikan Shiratori more."

"No, not at the direction she's going anyway."

After so much running, Lita made her way up the Hikawa Shrine stairs with Vanilla, Cream, and Cheese behind her. By this time, the Sailors had detransformed and were in civilian clothing.

"Hey Cream!" Rini waved hello to her new friend.

"Hi Rini!"

"Chao!"

"Guys..." Lita panted for breath when she approached Serena, "Good, you took care of that robot."

"Well actually, Lita, that robot wasn't so bad."

Lita became confused though was relieved when Sonic and Tails explained the situation to her.

"Tickets to see Mikan Shiratori. Serena, isn't this your favorite singer from junior high?"

"Yeah, kinda."

Vanilla stooped down and picked up a ticket while Serena finished talking with Lita. She studied it and was filled with curiosity to see who Mikan Shiratori was.

"We were all just deciding if we should go to her concert or not."

"Of course we should go!" interjected Mina," Who knows when we'll get another opportunity like this?"

Except for Cream, Cheese, and their mother, Mina recieved deadpanned facial reactions from everyone else.

"This isn't a vacation, Mina. Doctor Eggman is up to something big and we're going to find out what it is," Artemis confirmed.

"Well if we all just think of it as a vacation it could be one!"

Artemis sighed and shifted his eyes to Tails. "Tails, Luna and I need to speak to you about the living arrangements in your workshop."

"Right."

With Artemis and Tails heading back inside Rei's house to share their important discussion with Luna, Ami looked down at her ticket again. If these items were given to them specifically from Dr. Eggman, then how did his plan involve Mikan Shiratori? And if so, for what reason?

* * *

**_-Crossroads City Downtown-_**

In the center of Crossroads City Downtown, one could sit on the ledge of the water fountain and watch a giant television built into one of its many glass business buildings.

Michelle and Amara viewed what was being shown on this screen and saw a young woman singing on a stage. Her name flashed for all to see and it clealy read, "Mikan Shiratori." The next day from now, she was to have a concert in Metropolis City.

Amara looked down at her watch and got up from the water fountain. "It's time to go."

Michelle rose as well and followed Amara northward where they would meet Trista at the mall. "Doesn't seeing girls like Mikan Shiratori make you wonder if you had your old life back?"

Amara took one last look at Mikan Shiratori then closed her eyes. "What my old life was would never be the same. We can only keep our eyes forward and hope that neither us or the people we care about get stuck in the past."

Michelle glanced at her partner with a warm smile. She knew this answer to be on the woman's tongue before it even came through her lips.


	15. Chapter 15

**_-Crossroads City Train Station-_**

With their discussion drawn to a close, the Moon Cats and their child followed Tails to the Mystic Ruins by train. Due to city laws and restrictions, they were forced to sit inside cages while Tails got off the hook for his humanoid characteristics. Although the fox did receive a numerous amount of stares from humans also boarding the train.

"This is ridiculous! Artemis and I don't belong in cages." Luna looked down at her baby laying beside her and began to clean her face. Even this predicament wasn't one that Luna ever imagined herself in. But to some degree, she still was a cat. As was Artemis, who lurked inside his own containment. Humans would always see them as four-legged creatures, so maybe, at the end of it all, cages weren't so bad.

"Luna, I can't stand it in here just as much as you can't. But to the world, we're cats."

"This train ride won't be for much longer. We should be in Mystic Ruins in twenty minutes," said Tails.

Luna hoped so. The sooner they arrived at Tails's workshop, the sooner they could make the bed where their baby would sleep and they could move on to other tasks. Like thinking of its name... having that discussion about the status of their relationship.

Luna still had difficulty pondering on this subject, but one way or the other it needed to be mentioned and dissected until reaching a reasonable, positive solution. She didn't think of Artemis in that romantic, intimate way. In fact, the female cat was sure that he didn't feel the same way towards her. Everything was simply black and white. No grayish lines in between, but facts were the facts.

These Moon Cats were in no way closely involved.

* * *

**-Crossroads City Downtown Mall-**

"Attention, shoppers, attention shoppers! Check out some of our discount deals we're offering this week! Buy an outfit, get the other for free! 50% off every pair of jeans you buy with a pair of shoes!"

All throughout the store, this announcement blared through speakers along with the usual, upbeat radio music. Shoppers crowded the stores in hopes of finding special discounts like they had all heard. But not Trista.

Amara kept her arms behind her head as she, Trista, and Michelle walked around the store themselves, looking as if she didn't want to be there. Why they came to this mall to begin with was a mystery to Amara and Trista hadn't yet explained herself.

"Trista. What exactly are you buying from this mall?"

"That wasn't the reason I brought you two here."

Amara and Michelle exchanged confused glances with each other. If their older friend wasn't here to make any purchases, then her reason must have been extremely important. Exept what was it?

A few minutes later, Trista led her friends into a store where its items from left to right and back to front left them totally shocked. Niether woman could utter a word nor did they know how to process what they wanted to say.

"What is this?" Occupying the space of this store were materials related to Sonic the Hedgehog. Whether it be posters, plushies, school supplies, t-shirts, or action figures. "And that's not all."

The outcome of this discovery only grew worse... as Michelle and Amara turned their eyes to the direction Trista pointed at.

A T.V. was playing an animated action show, starring two protagonists and their allies who were fighting their arch nemesis. All of these characters fairly resembled the battle between Dr. Eggman and the Outer Scouts from a while back. Although the actor playing as Uranus was a male and while the actress playing as Neptune was assigned to being his love interest.

"Uranus- chan! You're so awesome!" The actor's infatuation and girlish behavior made Amara blush. Michelle found the scene to be quite cute and she giggled a bit.

"As adorable as this video is, that doesn't change the fact that this content needs to be taken out of this store immediately," Michelle stated with all due honesty.

"How did anyone record our battle to begin with?" Amara asked Trista irritably.

"By easily capturing video of it when we weren't looking. This video and this merchandise were shipped into this store not too long ago. They've noticed Sonic before since they captured all of his features right, but our identities cannot be put at risk."

"So then how do you suppose we fix this?" queried Michelle.

"The same way we erased Sonic's memory."

For a few seconds, the store grew quiet. Then Amara parted her lips.

"That would require all of the power from the Garnet Orb."

"I'm aware of that. As things stand, there's no other choice but to erase everyones' memories."

"But that includes Serena and her friends too," said Michelle.

"Maybe we're not going about this the right way."

Michelle and Trista turned to Amara and heard the dirty blonde continue, "Instead of erasing everyone's memories, why don't we track down the creep who recorded this video and go from there?"

"That's a good plan! That way we can find out who has the actual video of us and we can get rid of it. " agreed Michelle.

"I like the way you two think."

After giving this response, Trista went up to the shelf with the Sonic pushies and grabbed one. In her palm, it looked very adorable and resembled Sonic in every way possible.

"Say... what do you two think of these Sonic dolls?"

Amara and Michelle walked up to Trista and examined the plushie.

"It's cute."

"It's so adorable just like the real one."

Trista decides to purchase this Sonic doll and therefore stashed it away for safekeeping. "I have a feeling that sometime in the future this doll will be of good use to us."

* * *

**-Mystic Cave-**

In the deepest, darkest corner of the Mystic Ruins lay a cave otherwise known as Mystic Cave. Because of its bats, spiky pits, and steep ledges, explorers and treasure hunters stopped venturing inside this place. Only the fastest of them all and his trusty twin-tailed sidekick could enter this place and make it out alive, though Nyanko and Chuuko found themselves sitting within this cave's purplish-black walls.

Having reverted from their Sailor Animamate uniforms to their scavenger attire, this pair sat around a campfire in total silence. Chuuko looked to her comrade but couldn't speak as the older girl was still irritated.

"That robot is going to pay for this! There's no way we can let Buttress find out that we've messed up again." Nyanko shifted her eyes to Chuuko. "This was your fault!"

"My fault? I fought against that robot just as hard as you did!"

"No you didn't! Just admit it, Chuuko! You've still got a long ways to go!"

"Then how do you suppose I found this?"

Nyanko's eyes popped out of her head as she saw Chuuko reveal an instrument from behind her back.

"That flute!"

"I took it while that robot was distracted with you."

Chuuko tossed the flute over the fire for Nyanko and catch and look over it. The flute came in a shade of light blue and had holes that were shaped like cutesy mouse heads. Just what kind of flute was this?

"How is this a part of our plan?"

"Have you ever heard the tale called "Pied Piper of Hameln?"

Nyanko raised her eyebrow with piqued interest.

"Pied Piper went to the town of Hameln and was asked to drive out all of its rats in exchange for money because at that time rats were considered very dirty. So after just piping into his flute nine times, he led all of the rats out of Hameln and drowned them in a river."

After hearing only this first portion of Chuuko's story, Nyanko grew interested and wanted to know more about this Pied Piper. If it were chosen to help them in their mission then she would want to hear its entirety.

"With no more one rats around, Pied Piper started demanding for his pay but was told that the bargain wasn't made with him in good earnest. So even after being denied a second time, he threatened the townsfolk with revenge and played his flute to lead all of Hameln's boys out of their town gate, until they were in front of a hole and all got swallowed in. After that, no one ever saw or thought to confront Pied Piper because he disappeared so suddenly."

A cute but devilish smile decorated Chuuko's face. "Believe it or not, people from my planet are born with that same gift. That's why I wanted to steal that flute. We gather all of Crossroad City's rats and have them swarm it. The Sailor Scouts will be too distracted with that to see us carry out our real goal-"

"-which will be?"

Chuuko blinked confusedly as she was rudely interrupted. "I was getting to that!" The petite girl cleared her throat, "While they're dealing with the rats, we kidnap Sailor Moon."

"I love the sound of that plan," Nyanko smirked evilly.

"So now you know and since we have the flute we can start this plan first thing tomorrow." Chuuko let out a cute yawn. "Because I'm getting sleepy and need to fill my stomach with something."

"Well, you know what mice eat."

"Eww, gross! I don't eat the same thing mice eat!"

Before Nyanko could speak, the whole cave began to rumble. Obviously niether Nyanko or Chuuko knew the causes or explanations to this, though Nyanko had to push Chuuko out of harm's way as a jagged rock broke from the ceiling and came down her way.

After just a few minutes, the shaking stopped. Chuuko and Nyanko got up from the ground and dusted their clothes off.

"What was that just now?" asked Chuuko.

"Hello, girls!"

As Chuuko had now been rudely interrupted, she and Nyanko both turned to discover Eggman's latest creation standing before them with a most pleasant demeanor about herself. So delightful that it was disturbing.

Not only was she created by the hands of Eggman, but also, she now appeared to be made in his image; for she wore a slender, more feminine version of his red coat, white gloves, and black boots. The boots extended past her knees and met with the bottom of her coat. Anyone with knowledge about hair dye chemicals would be able to confirm that her hair had recently been dyed a sweet carrot cake-orange.

"What are young girls like you doing in a scary cave like this?" Mikan continued.

"We lost our way and decided to stay here for the night," Nyanko told this lie.

"Oh. Well, don't worry. I can help you get out of here." Mikan's clenched her fists, revealing her true motives.

Nyanko gave a short laugh. "Who put you up to this?"

"My master, Doctor Eggman."

As arrogant as Nyanko was behaving, she and Chuuko gasped at hearing Eggman's name. Galaxia had spared them details about this particular individual.

So it seemed they would still have more trouble on their hands...


	16. Chapter 16

**_-Mystic Cave-_**

"Doctor Eggman."

After acknowledging this man's name, a smirk formed on Nyanko's lips. "That egg head doesn't know who he's picking a fight with!"

In a matter of seconds, Nyanko revealed a wand as a means to shout her transformation cry and turn into Tin Nyanko. This stick resembled the Inner Sailor Scouts' Crystal Change Rods except the orb was black with a golden cat head and the wings on each side were black.

"TIN CAT METAMORPHOSIS!"

There was no time to lose. Chuuko saw her took it upon herself to retrieve her wand to transform as well. This Sailor Animamate's Crystal Change Rod had black wings as did Tin Nyanko's, except the rest of it was misty blue and a symbol of a golden mouse's head lie inside the orb.

"IRON MOUSE METAMORPHOSIS!"

Similar to Super Sailor Moon and Super Sailor Chibi Moon, Tin Nyanko and Iron Mouse transformed as a duo. In the transformation dimension that all Sailor Soldiers were sent to, Tin Nyanko and Iron Mouse stood still with their eyes closed. The spirits of Sailor Nyanko and Sailor Chuu appeared and placed balls of light into their chests, making their bodies glow.

As the transformation sequence was close to complete, the Sailor Animamates concluded it with signature poses. Tin Nyanko posed like a feline by show of her hands while Iron Mouse put her hands together like a mouse with the cutest smile on her face.

"Very nice performance, girls!"

Mikan shifted into her fighting stance and noticed her opponents do the same.

"Enough chit-chat! I don't why that doctor sent you in here, but you're not going to leave the same when we're through with you," replied Tin Nyanko, summoning her Cat Paw Gun.

"Ohh, I'm afraid it's going to be the other way around, missy. It's girls like you who never understand what it really takes to make it to the top." Mikan lunged towards Tin Nyanko and knocked the soldier's weapon out of her hands.

Tin Nyanko watched her Cat Paw Gun slide across the ground and cursed under her breath. She then turned back to jab Mikan in her stomach but missed and was sent to ground beside her gun.

"Nyanko!" Iron Mouse cried out. "GALACTICA CRUNCH!"

By uttering this magical phrase, dark energy in the form of a monstrous rat came forth and made its way towards Mikan to bite her with its fearsome, demonic teeth. For Chuuko's sake, it successfully took hold of Mikan and sank its teeth into her.

From the cameras inside his main room on the deck of the Egg Carrier, Eggman saw this new distress his creation was in. And while viewing this, he'd asked his lackeys to set coordinates for another journey. Bocoe and Docoe were the ones who always set the doctor's coordinates, however this time they weren't informed of where he was leading them through this starless night sky.

Mikan screamed in horrific pain. After being severely chewed and gnawed at, she broke free and leaped backwards to put some distance between her and the rat.

She stood there wincing, gingerly holding onto her right arm, then immediately brushed the pain off and stared down her opponents.

They braced themselves as Mikan lunged towards them, though were puzzled as a floating T.V. appeared beside her.

"Mikan! Let the battle end here."

Tin Nyanko recognized the voice from this T.V. and flared her nostrils. "Eggman!"

"Return to the base and we'll go from there."

"Yes, Master."

With new instructions laid out and given, Mikan turned around and took off with her creator following after her. But whatever the case may have been, Tin Nyanko wasn't going to stand for it.

"No!" The Cat Soldier started firing shots from her Cat Paw Gun. Mikan and Eggman continued hurrying from this until they entered the darker depths of the cave and were no longer visible.

Tin Nyanko ceased fire and in a fit of anger threw her gun to the ground.

Chuuko watched how furious her partner grew and could only watch in silence. Their opponent slipped away and there was nothing they could do about it. On a second note, what if there was nothing they were supposed to do about it and they were just in this cave squandering time away?

"What are we going to do now?"

Tin Nyanko turned to Iron Mouse as the smaller soldier asked this. She balled up her fists but then relaxed and stooped down to retrieve her gun. "We stick to our plan. You still have that flute with you, right?"

Iron Mouse pulled out the flute like so then let out a cute yawn. "Yes."

* * *

**_-Tails's Workshop-_**

Tails was of course used to having dinners by himself, though today he had ate dinner and conversed with Artemis and Luna. Both Moon Cats could not over emphasize of delicious and satisfying their tuna dinner was. Tails could only confess that, "Well, I've became a great cook after living by myself for so long."

After dinner was eaten and dishes were washed, everyone prepared themselves for bed. However, a familiar white cat could be seen perched on Tails's roof.

It was a tad bit chilly outside but soon Artemis felt a cooler wind brush against his fur. Then he looked over and found discovered the cause.

"Tails!"

After a few seconds, Tails stopped propelling his tails and landed beside a surprised Artemis. From what he figured, the fox was in his bed readying to go sleep. When they began to talk, both friends kept their eyes fixed above on the sky and the moon.

"I thought you were going to bed like Luna and the baby."

"Yeah, I started to. But then I noticed you were missing, so I came to look for you."

Exactly on point.

"What's the matter?" Tails asked as he sensed Artemis's dispirited expression.

Artemis let out a sigh. "It's about Luna and this baby. Ever since we received her earlier and read the Queen's letter, she's been acting different with me."

Tails fidgeted with his response as he wanted to cheer up Artemis. But the situation at hand wasn't where his expertise could lay. He was still only a child in one sense and therefore couldn't say the necessary advice.

Tails made his own sigh and finally parted his lips. "I've noticed that too. Have you ever tried talking to her about this?"

"No, but I want to. It's just so hard because we both know what has to be done. This kitten is what's going to help Rini become the Sailor Scout that she's predestined to be. Luna and I had a relationship since the baby was born... but we just don't think of each other that way."

"Uh..."

Artemis looked over at Tails with a weak smile and lowered his ears. "It's alright, Tails. This dilemma I'm sharing with you isn't your expertise. Tomorrow I'll try going for a walk and see if that helps."

"Yeah, t-that sounds like it could help."

* * *

Curled up into a gray ball of cuteness, Diana lay sound asleep after having had some warm milk.

Luna was fully aware of how feline mothers fed their babies, but she could not perform the same duty. For one, she hadn't matured into that state just yet. Secondly... denial still sat her front door. No matter what Serena or the others said, she couldn't admit that Artemis was her love interest. The Queen was never a woman that she should lie, nor was Trista the Keeper of the Space-Time Gate that she should be incorrect if ever questioned... but Luna's heart was not in compliance.

Luna looked down at the sleeping kitten. She was precious since the day she had came, and would be even as she grew older and stood more by Rini's side. So for no reason should her life be jeopardized or affected negatively.

This was what Luna understood to be true anyhow. Maybe she didn't fancy Artemis, but Diana was born out of love that they developed for each other in the late 30th century. No one or nothing could change that.

As a mother, it was Luna's responsibility to love and tend to this kitten even at cost of her own life. Facts were facts.

While Artemis and Tails began returning inside Tails's workshop to get in bed themselves, Luna curled around her dearest treasure and closed her eyes. Having somewhere quiet and safe, without noisy and constant disturbances was exactly where Diana needed to be. Luna thought about her friends and was sure that they were mad. But nothing could be done about it. Diana was the Moon Cats' main priority now and so they were to do everything in their power to provide the best life for her.

* * *

**_ -Mina's House-_**

Altogether, today had been an interesting day. Whether it be surprising, exciting, or upsetting. And now Amy was buttoning the bottom of her pajama shirt before hopping into her bed made on the floor next to Mina's. Though suddenly came the sound of an opening door and that was when Amy spotted Mina entering in her bath robe and house slippers.

Mina stretched out her arms and let out a long yawn. "I'm so worn out. A nice, hot shower was just what I needed."

The blonde walked over to her desk and grabbed an object that Amy was sure she recognized before. Like any other 10-digit communicator, this cell phone allowed Mina to call, send text messages, and download ringtones.

Amy stared intently at this device as Mina played with it, pushing in keys to send a text message most possibly. To take part in this activity looked interesting. As if Amy were missing out on something extraordinary. The hedgehog could see the enjoyment on Mina's face. Giggles and, "Awws" came from her mouth as she constantly read texts and sent replies. Amy had never seen Mina behave this way before.

Mina's device was awesome and Amy was sure she also wanted one. Surely it made sense as Mina was older and one of the many young women Amy admired and looked up to. Why couldn't she have her own cell phone?

After what seemed like eons, Mina set down her phone and spun around to face Amy. "Did you like what we had for dinner, Amy?"

"Oh, yeah! Spaghetti is one of those dishes that I haven't had in a while. Cream's mother knows how to make it but she is more of a baker or pastry chef."

"Ah," Mina put her hand to her chin, "I see. Her and Lita definitely should get together and see what they can bake together. I believe they could make a great team."

"Yeah, I think so too," Amy smiled sweetly. "Could I ask you something about that phone on your desk?"  
"Sure."  
"... where did you get it from?"  
"My dad bought it for me," Mina answered as Amy glanced at the teenager's cell phone, "Serena has one so I figured I should get one too. It wasn't easy convincing my dad to get it for me, but eventually we came to an agreement that I would make sure it never gets lost or broken."  
"Oh."  
Mina sensed Amy's inner feelings and sent a tiny smile to the preteen. "You want your own cell phone?"

"Well... I was thinking about it."

"I don't blame you for that. Cell phones are what's in nowadays. You can talk, text, check your calendar, record your voice, all kinds of different tools are built in."

"How could I get one?"

"Hmm... doesn't Tails know how to make things like this?"

"Yeah! Mina, you just gave me a wonderful idea! The next time I see Tails I will ask him to make me a cell phone just like yours."

* * *

**_ -Darien's Apartment-_**

"I had no idea that Akane was going to set us up like that."

"It's alright."

Snuggled on the rug in front of the toasty fireplace, Darien and Serena spoke softly to each other about the hectic events from earlier. Those villains were quite peculiar if Serena could say that; the fighter wearing the blue seemed very emotional and sensitive. No evil had shown through her demeanor when she cried over the death of her friend.

From their Sailor Scout meeting, Serena was advised to next time have her allies with her when Aluminum Siren decided to appear again. From that approach, maybe she could then interrogate the Mermaid Soldier and find out her motives.

"Whoever they are, we know that they're after your Sailor Crystal. Call me wrong, but their outfits kind of resembled the outfits that you and the others wear."

Serena gasped when she came to this same realization.

Of course.

Their collars especially made the Sailor Animamates comparable to the Sailor Soldiers.

"Darien, you're right! So I guess we aren't the only Sailor Scouts out there after all. But their suits still look different from ours."

"Yeah." Darien moved his gaze from the fire and placed it on his darling Moon Princess. Time and time again had Tuxedo Mask had to protect her because she had powers that their enemies wanted. No matter what, he would still carry out that duty, because without Sailor Moon, or Serena... well, life just would not be the same.

Serena felt Darien kiss her forehead and pull her closer. Aside from all of this Sailor Scout business, they still had their anniversary to think about. Each lover wanted to do something special for the other and have it turn out better than the year previous.

So what would they do?


	17. Chapter 17

**(A/N: Just a suggestion, but it might help you get a better feel to play the necessary songs from SA2B and SADX as you read certain parts of this chapter. I'm going to let ya'll find out what locations in this story could have the type of music I'm talking about ^_^ Anyways, enjoy!)**

**-Lita's Apartment-**

As Lita wasn't with the others earlier at Hikawa Shrine, Ami did the honor of telling Lita the events with Diana and evident love between obvious parents. Serena interrupted the conversation to chatter about how adorable and precious Diana was and that she tried to have Luna raise her inside her room, but Tails offered to let them stay at his place.

An uneasy Ami asked Serena to have her communicator back and so she and Lita continued their original conversation.

"I'm just glad that Luna and Artemis decided where they'll raise Diana. We have decided to visit them this weekend and also go to the Mystic Ruins to have a little picnic."

"Oh! A picnic sounds nice! We should decide what everyone wants and I'll see if I can bake it."

Ami smiled sweetly. "That's a great idea. I have to go now but we will all see each other tomorrow at Rei's place."

"Yeah, so do I. Good night, Ami."

Lita ended her chat and turned towards Vanilla who had been sitting on the couch with her. Cream and Cheese were fast asleep in the guest room so Lita still had someone to keep her company.

"So do you and Cream think you like this city?"

"Yes! So much that we were already deciding which other places to visit. We live in a cottage on the outskirts of Carnival Night City, so we rarely go to places like these."

"Have you ever thought about moving into any cities?"

"The question crossed my mind on few occasions, but I could never get rid of my cottage. It has so many precious memories in it." A gentle smile graced Vanilla's lips as she spoke about her house. "We have flower and fruit gardens that we always tend to. I want to keep my home nice and tidy so I can pass it down to my daughter when she gets old enough."

"That's so sweet."

Lita couldn't think of anymore words to say as she could not express how awed she was by this explanation her friend just gave. Cream and Cheese were lucky to have such a loving mother like Vanilla.

"Is something the matter, Lita dear?"

"Oh, no, I was just thinking about something."

Vanilla brushed her worry aside. "When you start school I wanted to ask if you would like to have me pack your lunches for you."

"Sure," Lita smiled.

"It's the least I can do since you were so nice to let us stay here. Everyone thinks of me as their mother figure because I care for them."

"I think you make a great mother figure."

"Thank you." Vanilla smiled back at Lita and rose from the couch. "It's getting pretty late so I should be getting to bed now."

"Yeah, I should get to bed too."

"Forgive me for asking, but there is somewhere you have to be early tomorrow? I thought you didn't start school until next week."

"Yeah, I did say that." A nervous expression developed on Lita's face. "It's just something I do every blue moon."

Even after Lita and Vanilla told each other goodnight, Vanilla watched the teenager head to her room. Something about her behavior seemed unusual right about now. There shouldn't have been any reason for her not to hide anything.

* * *

**-Hikawa Shrine-**

"Rin, Hyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Chin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!"

She remembered each symbol perfectly as she formed them with her fingers.

Around this time, Rei would normally be sound asleep as she had to wake up bright and early for school, but another vision had entered her mind.

While tidying up the kitchen, she had seen four angels each facing opposite directions. They all came in different colors and never exchanged glances with each other. Rei hadn't the slightest clue what this meant.

Even now as the priestess looked into the fire, she saw that same vision and began to feel melancholic. For these angels to be in their own worlds and never look at each other worried her. Truly a scene that would bring the sympathy out of anyone.

"What does this vision mean?"

From the slit of the door behind Rei, a pair of blue eyes saw this fire's vision as well. In no way should they have became witnesses to this.

Tails moved away and scurried down the hallway to his room. He ran as fast as he legs would allow him until he was safe in his room and slid the door shut.

The fox's heart raced as he grew frantic of those images from the fire. He was sure that no one else was supposed to know about these visions unless Rei shared it with them. And here he hadn't been able to help but take a peek at it. What was Tails going to do?

Rei put out the fire and returned to her room, feeling emotionless as anyone else probably would have. She tried to close her eyes but couldn't shake off the revelation she'd just foreseen. Those angels looked as if they didn't anything to do with each other. What was the explanation behind this?

* * *

**-Green Forest-**

An area previously inhabited by robots from the Guardian Units of Nations... a land where the Blue Blur and the Ultimate Lifeform had their second climatic encounter... now a place where Lita could be.

The tomboy brushed through trees as her way of performing her routinely jog. This was her first time coming to this forest so she always glanced every which way.

Every runner knew it was required to breathe the right way as they put their body under this much pressure. While Lita inhaled and exhaled, her mind went to last night's interaction with Vanilla.

The mother had such a concerned expression on her face. Keeping her thoughts hidden helped Lita at that time as she easily bid Vanilla, "Good night." and moseyed on over to her room. But what about next time?

Because she was training, Lita pushed these thoughts aside.

Soon a green vine was came into view. She leapt towards and grabbed onto this rope to swing and reach the cliff ahead of her. Having did this very well, she continued on to where ever this forest's path would take her.

As Green Forest had been occupied in the past, different animals of course still lived in its parts. A baby raccoon who couldn't find his way cried as he was being chased by a bear who looked mighty anxious to grab him by the waist and sink its deadly, sharp teeth into it.

If this raccoon had just stuck with his siblings instead of running off to look for more wild berries, then he wouldn't be in this terrifying predicament right now.

The distance between the raccoon and bear closed more... and more... until finally the bear bumped into a wall and stopped running.

"Huh?"

The raccoon fled until he reached a tree stump and his mind told it to look behind him. He saw the bear, and standing in front of him with an angry look on their face was a human female.

The bear growled at Lita for interferring and prepared to fight her. Though his instincts assisted him differently. Rather than staying on all fours, he stood up on twos and put his claws up.

Lita was startled by this but soon focused and clenched her fists.

The raccoon could not fathom what was going on as all he saw was fists flying back and forth. Lita threw another punch only for the bear to grab and hold it. She grunted as it wasn't easy taking it out of the bear's hand. Then the fighter sent a low kick to the bear's stomach and put him in terrible pain.

He moaned as he held his side. This human had been foolish for getting in the way and stealing his food. But not to worry...

Lita noticed her opponent turn and go over to a tree. With his giant paws, he punched into it and knocked it down, smashing and breaking until he had a log as tall as himself to fare in battle with.

"Hm! Think you're the only one who can do that?"

Lita cracked a cocky grin as she copied the bear's actions and made herself a wooden weapon.

Now made upset by her arrogance, the bear lunged forward and started this log battle. Loud noises were created every time their weapons touched. This sword fight of sorts grew so climatic to where the raccoon's eyes followed all of their movements and he could not imagine who would be the last one standing.

Human and bear protected themselves from each other's strikes, until Lita jumped into the air and sent her weapon down to crash on top of the bear. He placed his log above his head as a shield, though still felt pain and fell unconscious.

Seeing Lita toss her broken weapon aside frightened the innocent little raccoon even more. She was so powerful!

Panting and so fatigued from this fight, that was when Lita realized: She was a superhuman.

It sounded bizarre, yes, the idea of wielding supernatural abilties sounded weirder. But she was the Sailor Scout of Power and Thunder. Her past life held proof of that, and now she was reborn as the same warrior who could break down trees and take down bears without transformation.

A power like this had been gained through constant training. This skill was one that Lita had always dreamed of attaining, though was never sure when or if she could share with anyone. Her friends were all she had and who she treasured the most. What if she told them and it still led to the past she very so fought to run away from? She couldn't go back there...

A faint mumble of an infant interrupted Lita's thoughts. She spun around and found that raccoon staring up at her with fear coloring its eyes.

"Oh, yeah. That's right." Lita gently knelt in front the poor creature. "I'm sorry that bear tried to chase you. It's okay. I won't hurt you."

As caring and kind as Lita sounded, the raccoon recognized her tough side and was hesitant to letting her pick him up. When she eventually did take him into her arms, she did her best to find his home and return him to the mother and father.

"Next time, try to be more careful."

As Lita said this and turned to jog away, the raccoon smiled and waved farewell.

* * *

**-T.A. Private Girls School-**

What was being taught in this Catholic institution never reached Rei's ears. The black-haired student could barely keep her eyes open, let alone set aside last night's events.

"Miss Hino."

The nun in charge of teaching this class walked up to Rei as other students were released to leave. Rei kept her lips sealed as she knew why her teacher came in view.

"Would you like to tell me why you're falling asleep in class?"

"Forgive me, Ms. Ikumo."

"Please, just try to get more sleep."

Rei watched the nun walk away from her desk and leave the classroom herself. This made her sigh and put a hand to her forehead. That vision from last night was affecting the priestess's education and that was the last thing she wanted to deal with right now.

* * *

**-Entrance to T.A. Private Girls School-**

Walking home hadn't been any more pleasant. Rei was talented at making others believe she was doing fine. So many other girls from her school noticed her and sensed nothing wrong. Only Serena or one of her other friends would be able to see through her.

"Rei!"

Rei looked up and found Chad making his way towards her on their bicycle he had owned ever since the age of sixteen. A tiny smile lit her face she felt nostalgia from seeing this vehicle. How that bike was still in one piece after all the disasters Chad said it'd been through, Rei was totally clueless.

He came to a stop and parked beside her as they both said, "Hi," and she got on the back seat. Bikes like Chad's weren't normally seen in Japan as they were rides that had a padded seat built into the back for a second person to occupy. He'd been given this for his sixteenth birthday by his fabulously wealthy parents.

"I appreciate you coming down here to pick me up, but there are still more things at the shrine for you to take care of," Rei said to Chad.

"Yeah, but your grandpa asked me to come down here. He said earlier today you didn't look like you were feeling to well so he gave me a break."

"I was fine."

A short silence entered the conversation as Chad and Rei cycled through the streets. Both students and employees were finished with their jobs around this time so cars crowded against each other while buses were loaded with people.

Rei could say what came to mind, but Chad didn't need words to see it. The Shinto Trainee looked back at Rei and remembered earlier when he saw her make her way out the front door.

"Did my grandpa make any tea?"

Immediately Chad woke up from his trance and set his eyes back on the road in front of him. "Uhh, yeah. Ginseng and green I think."

"Good."

* * *

**-Outside Crossroads City-**

"Let's do this."

Tin Nyanko could envision herself already capturing Sailor Moon and obtaining the Silver Crystal. Their attempts would finally lead them to success and there would be nothing the Moon Princess or her loyal allies could do about it.

Iron Mouse put her new instrument to her mouth and began to play a peculiar tune. Anyone who knew Pied Piper would know that she was playing the exact same melody as he.

As this music reached the ears of all rodents, they each stopped what they were doing, whether it be crawling through the sewers, running inside their wheels, or nibbling on food.

All senses died as they turned in the direction of where Pied Piper's tune was coming from. While innocent field mice were hypnotized by this charade, there were also the house mice, adorable hamsters and gerbils, rats, and even the most atrocious of all: Possums.

Going to Iron Mouse was their main priority now. The rodents inside their plastic balls rolled on through lands and grasses even if civilians noticed.

"Hey!"

More and more individuals stepped outside their houses to discover this confusion and were shocked themselves. They kept asking the question, "What are all these rodents doing here?" Meanwhile some owners of these animals chased after them with arms out.

"Timothy, get back here!"

"Mickey, what are you doing out of your cage?"

"Hey!"

This dilemma only worsened. Older civilians thought it best to reach into their bags or purses and contact Animal Control to see if they could be of any assistance. Unfortunately, the results didn't change.

"What... what are these mice doing?" asked one animal catcher as the rodents in his net bit away at the strings and set themselves free.

Having secretly gone for another run while Rei was out, Sonic witnessed this whole fiasco from the top of a skyscraper and gasped at the sight of it.

"Woah! Where did all these little guys come from?"

The hedgehog's eyes followed the route that this colony of tailed- creatures was taking. From what he could tell, they were making their way towards west.

"Hmm..." Sonic cracked his knuckles then did some leg stretches, "I gotta find out what these guys are up to!"

With the supersonic speed he had, Sonic curled into a ball and sped down the side of the skyscraper, then started jogging alongside these rats to see where they would lead him.

* * *

**-Mystic Ruins-**

In order to enter the heart of the Mystic Ruins, Artemis had been told he must walk through the cave and make his way down a hill. At that point, he was in his destination and could take whatever path the fork in the road offered.

In the end, Artemis could say he was glad he decided to do this. The Mystic Ruins was a beautiful, serene region and was the right place for someone to clear their head.

The next step the Moon Cat needed to do next was find a reasonable spot to sit and meditate; for as delightful and pleasant as this walk was, he still wanted a place to sit down and relax during most of his time here.

A path leading to a clearing came into view, and like so Artemis approached it... only to become awestruck.

"Incredible..."

During the Silver Millenium, Artemis remembered magnificient statues and sculptures built on the Moon Kingdom and other planets for their royal Highnesses. This statue here in the middle of the Mystic Ruins reminded him of those and also looked interesting.

There was no telling how old this building was. Centuries, or thousands of years maybe.

With his curiosity at its highest peak, Artemis approached and walked up the stairs of this building and stood in front of its door. He tilted his head and stared at this... sculpture of a snake with its mouth closed.

No matter how long the feline examined it, he could not confirm this object's purpose. "Hmm... Tails might know why this is in front of the door. Huh?"

Artemis's thought vanished as the snake's mouth started opening, slowly revealing pitch-black darkness.

He took the first brave step foward. A mystery lurked behind this door and he was maybe one of the few who would ever step inside it. Though fate hadn't seemed to feel the same way.

A scream escaped Artemis's lips as he was mysteriously sucked inside this snake's mouth, his voice echoing as he flew through its shadowy hall. And just like that he had been "eaten" by this "snake", who then sealed its mouth again and remained stiff as it once did before.


	18. Chapter 18

**_-Crossroads City-_**

The sound of a lady's scream filled the area.

Having heard this, Lita turned the corner and found the lady running for her life... as an army of rodents were crawling down the street.

Lita almost lost her balance at how startled this scene made her. What were rats and other whiskered rodents doing out here?

"Lita!"

Quickly, the brunette looked up and found Sonic down the street.

"I would explain what's going on but I'm not so sure myself," the hedgehog stated as they approached each other, "Why're you wearing a karate suit?"

"I'll explain that later." Lita turned her eyes to the rodents, "For now, we need to let the others know about this."

All of a sudden, a series of familiar yells came to Lita and Sonic's ears, the voice of a pink hedgehog asking out loud, "Eww! Why are there rats and possums up here?"

"Serena?" Lita and Sonic exclaimed, spotting their friends when they ran down the next street.

"Huh?"

Serena and Amy turned around and spotted Lita and Sonic a block away from her. With the girls was Rini, Mina, Ami, and Rei.

"Lita! Sonic!"

Everyone gathered together and began discussing this new mouse crisis.

Amy pulled Sonic into a tight squeeze as this rodent dilemma frightened her.

"Sonic! I'm so glad you're here! Please, find a way to get rid of all these rodents!"

"Well I can't do that unless you let me go!"

"We saw these rodents come together when we were on our way from school," interjected a panicked Serena, "Just what could be the cause of this?"

"Maybe there is no cause at all. Someone is controlling these rodents," Ami suggested, looking at the different types of mouses, "Lita. Not to be too off topic, but why are you in that martial arts uniform?"

Everyone did have that same thought as they saw Lita.

"I'd like to explain that to all of you, but right now really isn't the best time."

Rei closed her eyes and hushed herself as a strange melody rang through her ears. A tune that was faint but carried a weird vibe.

"Everyone, listen to that noise."

Rei's friends did as they were told.

"I hear a strange song playing."

Once everyone grew quiet and focused, its music touched their ears just as it had Rei's.

The tune was actually that of a upbeat, fast-paced beat that was being played on a flute. And something in it was hypnotizing the mice.

Ami revealed her Mercury Computer and analyzed these sound waves.

"Someone's hypnotizing these rodents."

After closing her device, everyone nodded and began to follow the rodents to where they would find the villian behind this whole scheme.

* * *

_**-Green Plains-**_

Even if it was a far distance to run, Serena and the others ventured outside the city where that flute's melody was louder. The army of rodents simply stood in a grassy circle, no longer crawling or rolling around.

"What?" Sonic didn't understand this.

"Something isn't right here."

Rei turned her eyes every which way as this atmosphere was beginning to be too silent. Her friends did the same, wondering who the mastermind behind this plan was.

Rini gasped and shouted, "This was a trap!"

Suddenly the rodents in one group scattered, running in all directions while their bait was left out in the open.

"GALACTICA PUPPET!"

From up above, Tin Nyanko sent a blast of electricity at her opponents, electrocuting and sending them to the ground.

Why no one could figure out that this situation was all set up to be a trap, they didn't have the slightest idea. Also, for the strangest reason, Serena hadn't been a target.

"Everyone!"

Serena knelt in front of her allies and began trying to help them to their feet. However, the girl felt a painful jolt run up her arm.

"It won't you any good, Princess."

Serena looked over her shoulder at the Sailor Animamates then rose to her feet. Just who did these people think they were to trick her friends like this?

"Why are you doing this?"

"There's no reason for us to explain why. It's very simple."

Tin Nyanko aimed a ball of electricity at Serena's chest. "You have something we want and we're not leaving until we get it."

With just enough time to gasp, Serena dodged Tin Nyanko's Galactica Puppet until she had enough time to respond.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I won't just stand here and let you harm my friends and I!"

Serena reached for her brooch and yelled out her transformation cry. After becoming Sailor Moon, she then summoned her tiara and threw it at Tin Nyanko.

"Nice try, but you'll have to do better."

Even as their enemies dodged their leader's attempts, Sonic, Amy, and the Sailor Scouts wriggled to break free. They could not sit still while Sailor Moon fought against the evil on her own.

"Sailor Moon!" Lita rose to her feet, "JUPITER... CRYSTAL... POWER!"

After reappearing in her green Sailor Suit, Jupiter immediately prepared her first attack. She crossed her arms over her chest and allowed the lightning rod inside her tiara to come forth. Lightning poured down from the sky until it was collected around the lightning rod and sent at its targets.

"JUPITER, THUNDER, SUPREME!"

Being preoccupied with Sailor Moon, Iron Mouse and Tin Nyanko failed to brace for Jupiter's attack. They both screamed as they took on the pain and could barely stand to their feet.

Soon afterwards, Sonic was next to stand.

"Think that was painful? Wait until you see what I can do!"

Sonic curled into a ball and started spinning until white orbs of light formed around him. Once enough of these orbs were gathered, the hedgehog shouted, "READY... GO!"

Once again, the Sailor Animamates were assaulted by their enemies' attack as Sonic rammed into both of them with lightning speed homing attacks and sent them to the ground. They had some difficulty getting back up.

At this point, Serena's remaining friends transformed into Sailor Scouts while Amy summoned her Piko Piko Hammer. They along with Sonic and Jupiter then moved to stand in front of Sailor Moon.

"You guys have the wrong idea if you think we're going to just sit back and watch you double team our leader!" declared Mars.

"Besides, now it's eight against two," added Venus, "Surrender while you still have the chance!"

"You guys..." Sailor Moon smiled as always knew she could count on her friends.

"Who said it was eight against two?"

Iron Mouse brought silence as she played another tune on her flute and called all the rodents to her presence.

The Sailor Scouts could see the mice return from every corner until they approached and closed them in.

"Ah! They're back!" Amy clung onto Sonic.

"Amy!"

Sailor Moon screamed out, "They're coming for us! This is a nightmare!"

"Someone pinch me so I can wake up!" Mini Moon complied as she and Sailor Moon held onto each other.

"I don't like the looks of this myself, but we have to get rid of them," spoke Mercury.

"Why don't I blow them away with my Sonic Wind?" suggested a clutched Sonic.

"They'll only keep coming back." Mars turned her sights to Iron Mouse who still held that strange instrument. "Sonic! Use your Sonic Wind to blow some of these mice away so we can destroy that flute!"

"Right!" Sonic nodded and lifted his hand. "SONIC... H-hey!"

When the hedgehog prepared to carry out his task, a couple of cute gerbils latched onto him.

"Hey! You get off of my Sonic!" Amy knocked the rodents off her blue hero.

"MERCURY AQUA, ILLUSION!"

Several rats were trapped by Mercury's water and ice, however the ice shattered and they continued towards her.

"Sailor Moon, instead of whining why don't you help me keep these rats away?" fussed Mini Moon as the child had activated her Pink Sugar Heart Attack. The hearts from her wand managed to keep away the rats who tried to touch her.

"I am trying to help!" Sailor Moon yelled as she kicked possums and plastic balls.

Mars did not like the direction this battle was going in. While she and her comrades were trapped inside this pool of rodents, Tin Nyanko and Iron Mouse had the opportunity to attack them. When looking over at them, she noticed them both aiming their fists at Sailor Moon.

"No!"

Mars kicked a hamster away then gathered energy. "MARS... CELESTIAL FIRE... SURROUND!"

Rings of fire shot from Mars's hands, which then went for the Sailor Animamates and caught them off guard.

Iron Mouse gasped as one of the rings destroyed her left bracalet. The Mouse Solider fell to the ground.

"Chuuko!"

During that whole process, her flute had been obliterated as well, so the rodents fainted.

"Look! All the rodents are falling unconscious," Jupiter pointed out.

"Good," said Sonic, who shoved a mouse off his shoulder.

The rest of the team was very glad to not have to deal with rats or possums anymore. Them including mice were just plain icky.

"I never want to see another mouse in my entire life!" complained Sailor Moon.

Suddenly, this Sailor Scout noticed Tin Nyanko kneeling in front of the helpless Iron Mouse. She looked as though she were suffering from a sudden fever.

"Chuuko, please, hold on!"

The image of Aluminum Siren crying over Lead Crow's death was still perfect.

Tin Nyanko looked over her partner and discovered what the problem was. She then sent a hateful glare to Sailor Moon and parted her lips.

"You'll pay for this!"

Sailor Moon gasped as she was taken aback at how much hate the Cat Soldier showed for her.

With no time to waste, Tin Nyanko teleported Iron Mouse and herself out of the vicinity, leaving their victorious opponents alone with hundreds of rats encircling them.

"We forgot to interrogate them."

Everyone turned to Venus as she said this. "This is the second time they've came, or was it different enemies last time? Sailor Moon-"

The orange Sailor Scout could not finish her sentence as she discovered her ally to be in a depressive trance. Her eyes focused only on the blades of grass in front of her. Nothing else mattered.

"Sailor Moon," Mini Moon called her name, "What's wrong?"

Sonic remained silent as he stared at Sailor Moon. He knew what was wrong.

"Why are you sad? We beat them," insisted Jupiter.

"That's not what's bothering me."

"Then what is bothering you?" Amy asked gently.

"... the way they act when their friends gets injured... reminds me of how one of us would act. They care for each other the same way I care for all of you. There's a logical reason why they're like this."

"Sailor Moon..."

Mars could not explain the way these words moved her. Usually their leader wasn't this serious or deep. What was the reason for it?

"... what makes you figure they're bad guys only for a logical reason?"

"I can't really explain it. But I can feel it."

No one spoke another word as they were perplexed by Sailor Moon's. She'd aroused a mystery that would need a lot of time to think and go into.

Standing afar from anyone's view, the Outer Scouts had witnessed this whole scene and were intrigued.

"Buns sounds really sure that these new enemies of ours aren't what they really seem," began Uranus.

"The Princess has the ability to read inside people's hearts. There is a chance she'll ask me to open the Space-Time Door for her and her friends to look into this, so I'll be ready," Pluto explained to Uranus.

Neptune had her own topic to say. "I can't help but wonder how Sonic and Amy play a role in this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it isn't like you always said, Trista? Time tells everything. I don't believe it's just by chance that them and the rest of their friends were sent here. The Queen is trying to tell us something."

"Hmm..." Uranus began to ponder deeply. "Then it looks like we'll have to look inside the Space-Time Door ourselves. But for now, we still have to look into the case of that video producer."

"Right."

After agreeing with Uranus, Pluto had one last thought before they left. "Be careful, Princess."

* * *

**_-Lost World-_**

**_Song Insert: "Sonic Adventure DX- Lost World (Knuckles)"_**

Artemis groaned as he lifted his eyes open. They widened as he looked around and found himself to be inside some sort of hidden temple.

"What is this place?"

Everywhere Artemis looked, he saw ancient hieroglyphics on the walls and stone pillars. This temple looked to be as mythical as Queen Serenity's palace back during the Silver Millenium. Why had he been brought here?

"Tails mentioned something about Sonic and Knuckles exploring this place."

At this time when Artemis began to move and walk around, his ears picked up sounds of something rolling. He turned around to see what the noise was...

"What?"

The Moon Cat screamed and took off in fear as a giant boulder mysteriously appeared and started continuing after him.

"Where did that giant boulder come from?" Artemis thought fearfully.

Whatever the case was, Artemis had to free himself from it or he wouldn't make it out of this temple alive. A new path for him to take appeared. Though it curved downward so the boulder rolled after him faster. He shrieked yet again and quickened his pace.

"How did I end up being chased by this boulder? I wish the Sailor Scouts were here to help me out of this!"

Artemis couldn't speak again as a cliff came into view and he'd had to jump across it. Cliffs like these appeared about five or six more times.

He didn't want to be squished like a pancake, but all of this running was taking a toll on him.

Artemis panted... and panted... and panted... until finally a larger gap came ahead and he used all of his might to leap across and grab the other side.

As for the boulder, it fell down into the pitch-black darkness below and was seen no more.

Artemis looked over his shoulder and sighed in relief of this.

"Phew!"

Grateful that this dramatic chase was over, Artemis fought to pick himself up and climb up the ledge. For an ancient temple, this one had been very mysterious, and surprising.

_**-Song Insert ends-**_

Artemis entered the door ahead of him and came upon an altar. Cautiously, he walked along the path leading towards it until he reached the altar and studied it. In the end, it looked as nothing more than a regular pillar that like the rest of this temple was historical.

"Where do I go from here?"

Standing idly to think of the answer did Artemis no good. One of the spirits inside this temple awakened and appeared in front of the Moon Cat as a ball of orange light.

He gasped at this.

The light didn't seem to wait any longer. It's light intensified the whole room until Artemis had to cover his eyes and look away.

* * *

**_-Angel Island-_**

Everything became clear again and Artemis uncovered his eyes to find himself on another altar... with a giant gem resting in its center.

"A giant gem!"

Discovering this jewel was when Artemis realized... this was Knuckles's home that Tails and had told him about. He lived and had stayed here on this island for as long as anyone could remember.

The fact that Artemis had changed into his human form wasn't of as much important right now. This consisted of his long, white hair, ivory uniform, and same azure eyes and crescent moon.

"Why have I been brought here?"

Suddenly after asking this, Artemis looked down the altar's stairs and noticed a small echidna ascending up them.

"Oh!" Artemis looked into their eyes. "That echidna looks like Knuckles."

From what Artemis could also tell, this red child was sad. He wiped tears away and sniffled until he reached the top of the stairs. He then placed all of his attention on the gem. Its spirit called out to him and yearned that he never leave its side.

Artemis spectated this in silence until he noticed the spirit of another echidna manifest and float beside him. This spirit was orange and was a female. Something about her reminded Artemis of that orange light, but the man brushed the thought aside.

"Do not be afraid. You are the only one left who can carry on our tribe's duty."

As the spirit sent these words to the child's mind, she continued saying more.

"You never knew your parents."

Artemis gasped when he heard this phrase.

"... that wasn't your fault. You still have what it takes to fufill your purpose. Let life be your teacher. If you don't fufill your duties as the Master Emerald Guardian, then who else will?"

What this spirit just said to the echidna stuck to Artemis. Even if he was teleported away by the same orange light. What she'd said related to his situation. Before she disappeared to go back to the Spirit World, she looked over at him and gave a sweet smile.

"Wait!"

It'd been too late.

* * *

**_-Mystic Ruins-_**

Artemis woke up again in front of the temple, in his cat form. From show of the sky, he had been inside the temple for that long because the sun was about to set.

"Artemis!"

The cat looked up and found Tails running up to him.

Tails knelt in front of him with a concerned frown.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... just feel a little woozy."

Artemis was helped to his feet and informed that after some time Luna began to wonder where he went exactly.

"So... did going for a walk help you any?" Tails asked casually.

What was the answer behind this? Artemis could nod his head and answer, "Yes," but there was still the obligation of explaining all of his experiences to Luna.

"Yeah, you could say that."

In his mind, he thought, "I have to find the right time to explain it all to Luna."

* * *

**_-Concert Stage-_**

Backstage where a pop star and workers were getting ready for their big show, the workers walked to and fro to complete out their jobs.

The pop star could be seen looking at themselves in the mirror and fixing their hair in their make up room. This concert tonight in Metropolis City was going to be the best.

Three knocks came to their door.

"Who is it?"

Before the singer realized it, she was staring an exact version of...

"N-no way! How are you exactly like me?"

Mikan didn't have time for chit chat. This orange-haired Mikan took the real one and tied her up to stuff her inside a bag. With her mouth covered, it was not like her victim could scream or cry for help.

"Don't worry. Today it's my turn to own the stage."

That sweet smile Mikan wore on her face was the last thing she saw before being shoved inside the make up room closet.

Having completed Phase 1 of her master's plan, now Mikan moved onto the next step. No one would ever suspect the difference between her and this real Mikan Shiratori. Especially when Mikan was now in front of the mirror putting on a brunette wig.

The door same door was opened and in came in the concert director.

"Mikan, your show starts in two hours. We're going to need you to rehearse your opening song."

"Alright."

Moments after the director left and closed the door, Mikan retrieved her compact mirror and flipped it open to instead reveal a screen, which soon turned on and showed the face she needed to see.

"Master. I have hidden the girl and disguised myself."

"Good. Go along with the plan I have already assigned you, then I'll give the signal when it's time for Phase 3."

"Yes, Master." Mikan closed her device and returned her gaze to the mirror.

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

"A concert? Rei, we didn't hire these trainees just for them to live off of us and still get to party! They owe us money for our shrine gate!"

"I know that, Grandpa. These trainees will be with me, so it isn't like they'll get into trouble. I promise when we come back I'll assign them more chores to pay for the gate damages."

Grandpa Hino crossed his arms as he decided on this matter. It was close to sunset, closer to the time that his grand-daughter and the Shinto Trainees wanted to go out to some concert that was in a place called Metropolis City. Where ever the heck that was.

"Fine." Grandpa Hino called for Chad to come stand by him. "But I'm having Chad be your chaperone."

"Grandpa!" Rei blushed, "I don't need a chaperone! I'm 15!"

The priestess's words became futile as her grandfather had already stepped into the house and slid the door closed. She could only sigh and look back over to Chad. There was no telling if he really wanted to go to this concert. He'd been given no consent.

"Chad."

The bushy-haired man looked down at Rei when she grabbed his attention.

"This ticket my friend gave me is very expensive. You might have to ask your parents for the money."

"I already got that covered."

Ever so swiftly, Chad revealed his ticket and presented it to Rei.

"I bought one when the concert was first announced. My plan was to see if... you know... if you, wanted to go too."

"Oh!"

Rei was left speechless as she realized this planned date... sometimes Chad could be so sweet.

"Well, that was very thoughtful of you, Chad. T-thank you."

Both teenagers stood in the quiet atmosphere as they were nervous of what to say next. Hormones wanted to kick in.

"Well, we should change clothes so we can hurry and meet Serena and the others. They're meeting us down at the Subway Station."

"Okay."

* * *

**_-Serena's House-_**

"Serena. It's not me or your father's responsibility to watch this kitten. Where did you get her from anyway?"

"It belongs to one of my friends. Mom, you'll only be keeping her for a few hours. After that you and dad never have to see her again."

Mrs. Tsukino looked down Diana as she held her in her arms. Mr. Tsukino appeared and examined Diana for himself.

"This kitten looks odd to me. There's a crescent moon on her head."

"That's just the way my friend wanted it."

Mrs. Tsukino handed Diana to her husband and folded her arms.

"I hope you're telling the truth, Serena. You've just began your first year in high school and there's no more time for you to getting any more bad grades."

"Mom, we already had this discussion. I won't let my grades drop this time."

"Alright. Have fun at the concert then. Call us if there's an emergency."

With her parents' permission to watch Diana, Serena returned outside where Tails, Luna, Artemis... and Darien were waiting for her.

"Darien? You got your ticket for the concert too?"

Darien embraced and kissed Serena when she ran up to him.

"Yeah. My job at the arcade pays average, so I had to go into my savings account."

"You didn't have to take out a lot, did you?"

"No, not at all."

"While you were inside, Serena, we explained to Darien what Dr. Eggman is up to," spoke up Luna, "Most of our friends are already at the Subway Station waiting for us."

Finished with her explanation, Luna turned her sight to Serena's house and could not look elsewhere.

"Luna..."

Artemis felt the same longing not to leave. Throughout this whole day, him and Luna still hadn't been able to open up and discuss about their child, or about what he saw in that temple. This ate away at him.

Serena knelt beside her cat and pet her.

"It'll be alright, Luna. I know how you feel."

The blonde looked over her shoulder at Darien who also understood. Their child was away from them with the others at the Subway Station.

After receiving some encouragement, Luna turned towards her friends.

"Thank you, Serena." the feline cleared her throat. "Well then, let's be on our way."


	19. Chapter 19

**_-Toei Movie Studios-_**

"Lights... camera... action!"

Inside Toei Movie Studios where Tokyo's newest hit series began, its director Yui Aino was directing the second episode of his latest work, "Magikku Senshi-Ryoku Z." As he'd imagined, the first episode of this series was a big hit. Newspapers rated it as, "The show Tokyo has always been waiting for." Its actors were scheduled to be on talk shows and go on tours... though for now they would record this next episode.

...

...

"Alright! And cut!"

Finishing the last scene where everyone had just discovered their newest ally, the actors all went their seperate ways and left the building. It was getting late and these actors had performed a fantastic job well done.

The director breathed a sigh of relief before one of his camera men frantically approached him.

"Mr. Aino! You must hurry, quick!"

"Woah, slow down, kid! Tell me what's wrong."

* * *

**_-Toei Movie Studios Parking Lot-_**

Yui followed this specific camera man outside to the parking lot where they went up to his black car and saw that a note was on its windshield wipers.

"I was just out here putting some things into my car when I noticed this note on your windshield."

Yui took the note and read its content. Then, as if its words upset him, he crumbled the paper up and hurried to his car's door.

"M-Mr. Aino? What about the next film we have to shoot?"

Before the camera man knew it, Yui had started his car and pulled out in reverse, making a screech so loud that everyone in the studios possibly heard it. It was after he took off like a street racer that the camera man looked down at the crumpled note. Just what had it said?

* * *

-**_Rainbow Bridge-_**

"I'm not so sure about this."

Some miles after Crossroads City Downtown, Amara, Michelle, and Trista stood on the bridge that connected it to the Odaiba District.

Odaiba District, unlike the other regions close to Crossroads City, was a large entertainment and business district, precisely where Mr. Aino's studio was located. So it wouldn't take him long to show up here.

"Instead of standing here, we could have went over there and found the video."

It wasn't just the distance that bothered Amara. In order to protect their civilian identities, she and the others slipped on hats, trenchcoats, and sunglasses to blend in with the night.

"True. But at least this way we're less likely to be figured out," reasoned Michelle, "And if he's understanding enough, we can bribe him for the video and settle this peacably. Amara, I know it wasn't your idea to put on these coats..." Michelle let out a giggle.

Trista didn't have anything to say on this matter. They'd given that film director their note and soon they would explain themselves. The woman had to admit though... Yui Aino had been clever to record evidence of their existence and turn it into a TV show. People would pay hundreds to see their action.

"Trista. Is this your first time standing on this bridge?"

Trista woke up from her thoughts as Michelle queried her.

"Yes, you could say this is my first time. What about you two?"

"Amara and I have driven along it a few times to see just what it was like. The lights it illuminates are so beautiful."

Trista along with Amara looked up at the scenery Michelle just mentioned.

"I heard about how this bridge was made. They put lamps on the wires supporting the bridge that turn into all of these colors we see. It can only do this with the solar energy it collects," Amara described to the others.

While some cars drove across the bridge, Amara and her friends watched a black car arrive and park in front of them.

After turning off the ignition, Yui let himself out of his car and approached the three women.

"Is this a prank? Why am I standing face-to-face with women?"

Trista stepped in front of Amara and Michelle and answered this.

"It is not a prank, Mr. Aino. We're the ones who left that note on your car."

Yui calmed down a bit, though his jaw was still tensed up.

"Well, start talking. Explain that note you wrote me."

"As you wish, Mr. Aino."

* * *

**_-Metropolis City-_**

"Is everyone ready to hear me sing?" Mikan spoke into the mic.

Her fans screamed and shouted, giving the obvious yes.

"Then here we go!"

Rather than clothed in her attire prepared by her Master, Mikan slipped on a fluffy dress and some high heels. Eggman would be most pleased when she completed Phase 3 and moved on to Phase 4.

Metropolis City really had been just as Sonic remembered it. Anyone could walk along their roads but in actuality be running along it smoothly. Flying cars hovered along their designated paths, and the buildings touched the sky.

The last time Sonic and his best friends had been here, ole' Egghead stole this city's high-powered energy tanks to fuel the Final Fortress. Of course that plan hadn't succeeded though.

With the whole gang united now, in casual attire, Sonic made an announcement.

"Hey, guys! Tails, Ames, Cream, you guys already know... these roads in this city are made out of energy particles. They all go the same way, so when you walk on them you'll feel yourself being pulled."

"Basically, Sonic's saying that when you stand on these roads, our negative body particles are being attracted with this road's positive energy particles."

"So what you guys are both saying is that we're like magnets?" Ami helped translate.

"Right. So since this is your guys's first time, you probably should all take hands and run together."

Ami and her friends nodded then exchanged glances with each other. It was decided fairly who would hold whose hand.

"You better not slip, Serena! You're clumsy enough as it is at home," fussed Rini.

"Be quiet, Rini!"

Artemis and Luna were able to have Amy and Tails both agree to hold them.

"Why thank you, dear," Vanilla smiled as Mina offered to take her palm, Lita holding her other hand while Ami chose Lita's.

When Serena saw Darien reach his hand out, he twined it with Rini's so that the smaller girl was in between them.

"Darien, why didn't you take my hand?"

"Uhh... well..."

"Because he likes me better, that's why!"

Serena groaned until she couldn't take anymore of Rini's teasing.

"That does, Rini! Come here!"

Rei heard this new fight beginning to brew between Serena and Rini.

"Serena, leave Rini alone! We're about to start running."

What the priestess dealt with herself wasn't a fight, but her fingers against Chad's left butterflies in her stomach. What had her grandpa been thinking to make Chad accompany her like this?

"Everyone ready?" Amy asked cheerfully, "Let's go!"

**_-Song Insert: Sonic Heroes "Grand Metropolis Zone"-_**

With the Sonic Heroes leading first, everyone stepped on the transparent blue road and felt themselves be pulled just as Tails explained. It was an exciting experience, running along these paths at speeds fast like Sonic.

"Do you remember the first time we came here, Cheese?" Cream asked her chao happily.

Cheese answered with a cute smile and waved his stubby arms. This city was still crystal clear to him.

"Hey! This is actually kind of fun!" commented Serena, "I feel like I'm running as fast as Sonic!"

"Heh heh," Sonic chuckled at this statement.

He looked around at his other friends and saw that they were enjoying this little jog as well. The hedgehog then looked down as Artemis said to him, "I have to say I'm amazed too. Are all of the streets in this city like this?"

"Yep! Everyone, watch out for this hill up ahead!"

All of Sonic's friends looked to where he pointed and braced themselves. For most of them to be beginners, striding up this hill looked kind of scary.

Rei felt Chad tighten his grip around her hand. She looked over to him and parted her lips.

"It'll be okay."

When Chad heard Rei and saw that cute smile on her face, the young man felt relieved. Her stronger hold around his hand let him feel even safer.

"Hold on to our hands tight, Miss Vanilla," Mina told the mother, "This hill is really tall."

"Will do, dear."

As the lop-eared rabbit held on tighter to Mina and Lita's hands, the whole gang started up the hill. The beginners realized that running up these roads was just as simple as running across them.

Chad didn't feel the nervousness anymore. His grip on Rei's hand loosened and a tiny smile formed on his lips. Metropolis City's roads weren't dangerous. They were actually awesome.

Cream and Cheese giggled as they were having fun. Pretty much everyone had to admit they were interested by this.

"Look at me, Darien! I'm Sonic!" Rini giggled sweetly, spreading her little arms out to dash just like the World's Fastest Hedgehog.

Darien smiled at the child's cuteness, then looked over to her future-mother and gave her a smile. Their was their soon-to-be daughter who could be so adorable sometimes.

"This is amazing!" Ami spoke out, then looked to Tails, "I can't imagine what else you and Sonic have to show us."

"Trust me, Ami. This is only the beginning."

Soon after Tails said this, him and the others reached the top of the hill and stood on plain metal concrete. From how high they stood, they could see all of the cars that flew by, including all of this city's lights. Because today was a special occasion, colorful lights illuminated Metropolis City just as the lamps glowed on Rainbow Bridge.

All on one, starry night.

"This is a lovely view," said Vanilla.

Everyone grew quiet as they stopped and took in this spetacular view. No longer running, they let go of each other's hands while the Moon Cats remained in Amy and Tails's arms.

From the corner of his eye, Artemis couldn't help but look at Luna and wonder if she were enjoying this. She seemed hesitant about leaving Diana with Serena's parents and hadn't said much ever since then.

Darien set a fatherly hand on Rini's shoulder as she was delighted by this view, only to feel Serena embrace his arm and smile up at him. He smiled back and put his arm around her waist.

"Those lights are so pretty," Chad muttered to Rei, "Your grandpa's missing out."

"You know what? You're right," Rei smiled at her chaperone, "Guys, I hate to ruin this moment but we should hurry to the concert ticket booth."

"Yeah."

After replying to Rei, Sonic led everyone down the road in front of them.

Cream looked back at Rini and asked the girl if she would like to have a little race.

"Wanna have a race to the ticket booth, Rini?"

"Okay!"

"R-Rini!" Serena beckoned to the girl, "We're supposed to hold hands!"

Rini had caught up to Cream and Cheese before Serena could put a stop to it.

"Darien, do something!"

"No worries, Serena," Sonic assured the blonde.

She was left with no choice but to watch Sonic go up to the children and watch them.

"Well, alright. I know Sonic will watch them."

Cream and Rini started their challenge at a good pace. Since Cream was already familiar with the way this road worked, she was a little ahead of her pink-haired friend.

Rini picked her up feet to get in front of the rabbit, however lost her footing and felt herself tumble forward.

Everyone gasped as she made her way face-first to the floor... though breathed relieved sighs when they saw Sonic catch her.

Clearly, Rini still must had been moving, but she was floating through the air.

"Be more careful next time," Sonic's voice rang through her ears.

"Sonic!"

A surprised Rini was set back on the road to continue her race, definitely making sure not to fall again.

* * *

**_-Downtown Metropolis City-_**

**_-Song Insert: Sailor Moon "It's A New Day"-_**

"Aha! We both won!" Cream exclaimed happily.

The rabbit was just glad that she and Rini both had fun.

Everyone finally reached their destination though unfortunately had to wait behind an incredibly long line. From outside, they could hear Mikan Shiratori singing, "It's A New Day." It was Mina's intuition that this was the opening song to Mikan's entire concert, so they weren't too late.

"Wow, these lines are pretty long!" Lita thought out loud.

"Of course! Mikan is the best!" replied Mina, who then began complaining, "But I don't want to miss too much! Why can't this line move any faster?"

"Be patient, Mina. Remember, we only came here to see how Dr. Eggman is involved with this."

Artemis walked alongside Mina while Luna with Ami since they hadn't had to run anymore.

"Sonic, does Dr. Eggman usually try to pull schemes like this?" Luna asked the hedgehog.

"Too many to count."

"Well that sounds about right. He seems very gullible."

Sonic gave a light chuckle. "You're right about that. But with that gullibleness he's still determined to still try and take over the world."

"Someone tell me when this line moves up," said Mina as she pulled out her cellphone.

The blonde began pressing away at letters to send text messages. At least until a certain cat snatched the phone away from her.

"Hey! Artemis, give me my cell phone!"

No. This thing is a huge distraction. Right now, you should be worried about investigating this concert."

"Okay, fine..."

* * *

**_-Mikan Shiratori's Concert-_**

The crowd cheered and applauded for Mikan's last song. Then, when the quieted down, she spoke into her mic.

"You guys thought that song was really good?"

The pop-star then held her mic out towards the audience and recieved an even louder cheer.

"Well then I'm sure you'll love this next song."

The audience quieted down and waited for Mikan to sing her next song.

Meanwhile, Rei and her friends had all presented their tickets at the ticket booth then took their seats. Of course Artemis and Luna sat in their respective owner's laps.

"None of this seems right," Rei whispered to her friends so Chad couldn't hear, "Whatever Eggman's plotted, he really is taking his time to reveal it."

"Whatever the case, we need to all be ready."

After Luna gave this statement, she looked over and noticed Serena playing with her cellphone.

"Serena! Now is not the time for you to be playing with that phone!"

"I was just checking what time it was!" Serena sighed, "Gosh, Luna."

**_-Song Insert: Sailor Moon "Rainy Day"-_**

"Here's Rainy Day!"

Mikan put the mic to her lips then started to sing. Her adoring fans never took their eyes off her as this intimate song spoke to them. Even Mina was hyped up, as she waited for Mikan to sing so she could sing along with her.

Sonic might have seen this pop star singing well and keeping the show going... but he would always keep his guard up.

"Just what are you plotting, Eggman?"

**When I think about the first time... I thought I found someone who cared, for me**

**But things were not as they appeared to be**

**Rainy Day Man, on your shoulder I cried when my first brush with love, left me shaking inside**

**Rainy Day Man**

**Ever since I can remember**

**Just like a brother you've been strong and true**

**Always been the one to see me through**

**Rainy Day Man**

**You're much more than a friend**

"I would give anything, just to see you again," Mina followed this line.

After having sang the chorus of this song, Mikan repeated it to finish her performance. During all of that time, Amy listened to her words and grew to like them; for she had her own Rainy Day Man. And he was the best one yet.

Rei had to admit that Mikan Shiratori had a great singing voice. Though when the song came to a close and the audience gave their applause, she noticed something odd about Mikan's reply.

"You guys thought that song was really good? Well then I'm sure you'll love this next song."

Chad grew surprised as he watched Rei rise from her seat.

"Huh? Where are you going, Rei?"

Rei left without answering Chad's question and went over to the Moon Cats.

"I think it's time we really start investigating. I sense an evil presence inside that girl."

"Alright," replied Luna.

To keep their motives hidden, Rei asked Sonic to walk with her out of this building. Though the most unusual thing started to occur.

"What the-?" gasped Lita.

* * *

**_-Power Plant-_**

Cream and Cheese became scared as everything around them began to disappear. The walls... the people... even the seats they sat on. Their seats turned out to be oil barrels and boxes.

"How did all of this get here?" Amy questioned as she hopped from a box and almost dropped Luna. Along with her confused friends, this pink hedgehog looked around herself as everything looked so familiar...

"Sonic? Tails? Doesn't this place look familiar to you?"

The blue hedgehog and fox studied this area for themselves, one of them walking over to a ledge and discovering boiling, hot lava.

"Yeah! This is Grand Metropolis's Power Plant!" confirmed Tails, "But it's a trap!"

"This entire concert was made to look real by use of holograms," deduced Ami," We were led inside some sort of virtual world."

"You're a very smart girl."

Ami and Tails looked and found Mikan to be standing above them on a higher floor as she interjected.

"But you and your friends are already trapped. It's the end of the line."

"You imposter!" Mina fumed, "You can't be the real Mikan Shiratori! That wig says it all!"

"So you managed to see through that?"

Mikan removed her wig to reveal her real hair color.

Everyone was astonished and galvanized by this. Her hair was too bright.

"Mikan!" Mina had some difficulty containing herself. "What did you do to your hair?"

"You don't like it? My master thought it looked nice."

"Your master? No...! You don't mean..."

A cunning grin played on Mikan's lips.

"Yes. My master who set up this whole scheme is Dr. Eggman."

"I can't believe this!"

Mina balled up her fists and turned to Sonic, almost scaring him.

"Sonic, just what kind of psychopath is this guy? He's taken one of Tokyo's smartest, nicest, most pretty pop stars and turned them into a Mikan Shiratori wannabe with a terrible hair-dye job! We have to do something about this!"

Veins popped out of Mikan's face as she heard these negative comments.

"W-we will. Believe me, I'm still surprised by this too," Sonic tried assuring Mina, "Just gimme a minute to think of a plan."

"I'm afraid there won't be anytime for that."

Sonic wondered what Mikan meant by this but learned the answer when the floor started lowering itself towards the lava.

"Oh no!" cried Vanilla, "Sonic, dear, we must find a way out of this!"

No one expected Mikan to retaliate like this.

Here Chad thought he was a chaperone going with Rei and her friends to see a concert, but now they were inside a power plant and on the verge of touching this molten lava.

Sonic remembered this place very well. When Team Sonic came here, they had to fly to the floor Mikan was on and continue out to the transparent road. But Tails wasn't capable of carrying more than two people at a time.

"You guys, how could we get out of here?" asked a panicky Serena.

That was what lit the bulb inside Rei's head.

"Chad."

A panicked Chad gave Rei his attention.

"Let Tails fly you out of here so you'll be safe."

"What? But what about you?"

Understanding Chad's fear, Rei forced a tiny smile onto her face. "I'll be fine."

"But-"

"Hurry!"

Second by second, the floor was moving closer to the lava.

Chad looked down at it then found Tails in front of him. The twin-tailed fox didn't look to keen on this idea of leaving his friends behind either, but he trusted them.

Rei watched her chaperone take Tails's hand and be flown upward to the second floor and out of the building. Then she reached inside her shirt and pulled out one of the brooches that'd been left on her bed. Ever since that day, this device hadn't been activated. Where all four of them came from was still a mystery.

"We're getting closer to the lava!" cried Amy.

Sonic grunted as there was nothing the hero could do to solve this. Mikan was still up there staring down at them. She'd completed Phase 4 exceedingly well and now she could watch her master's enemies suffer for always ruining his plans. If only he'd acted sooner!

Rei had a final thought as she stared at the brooch again. She then retrieved the other three brooches and gave them to their friends.

"Rei!" Luna exclaimed, "... where did you get these brooches from?"

Serena examined the brooches as they were handed to Ami, Mina, and Lita. They looked similar to her transformation locket.

"There's no time to explain. Mina, Ami, Lita... take these brooches and yell out, "Eternal Power."

Rei's comrades nodded and quickly held their brooches above their heads.

"JUPITER, ETERNAL, POWER!"

"MERCURY, ETERNAL, POWER!"

"VENUS, ETERNAL, POWER!"

...

...

"MARS, ETERNAL POWER!"

Like the other Sailor Scouts, Rei could feel a warm light enveloping her.

Their transformation sequences remained the same. The heroines they were turning into were of a different status; for when they reappeared, their appearance resembled Sailor Moon's. The feathers of their wings came in a soft, angelic white. However the colors of their suits contained their own signature colors.

Serena, Darien, Rini, and the Moon Cats were awestruck by these changes. The Inner Soldiers had unlocked a new power.

Mikan scoffed at this.

Giving no one time to respond, Mars motioned Serena to also transform.

"MOON, ETERNAL, POWER!"

What happened after Sailor Moon arrived all happened in one, smooth motion. The Sailor Scouts grabbed their friends who needed carrying and flew them to safety. Thankfully all before the lava touched their feet. Since Cream and Cheese already had flying capabilities, Cream let Amy and Sonic hang on her feet.

Mikan witnessed these five girls ascend away from the lava. Angered, she pulled out a plasma rifle and began shooting at them.

"Ah!" screamed Amy, "She's catching up to us!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!"

Cream revealed a couple of Fake Rings and threw them directly at Mikan.

Mikan screamed from the electrifying pain and collasped to the ground. Her weapon flew from out of her hands and over the ledge, falling into the lava that was meant for its owner's enemies.

"Good job, Cream!" Amy complimented her best friend.

"Thanks!"

Cream smiled also at Sonic who'd given the child a thumbs up.

* * *

**_-Rainbow Bridge-_**

"Alright... let me get this straight. You want me to get rid of Magikku Senshi-Ryoku Z because if I keep producing it, then it could cause big trouble. You women are crazy."

Amara made a sigh then looked over to Trista.

"Didn't I tell you he wouldn't cooperate?"

Michelle also shifted her eyes to their leader. Normally, businessmen like Yui were a lot more understanding. But it seemed that he wasn't one of those individuals.

Before getting back in his car, Yui had just one more thing to say.

"If I ever get a note from you three again, then I'm reporting you all to the police."

In all of his time as a film director, Yui Aino had never came across characters like these. For them to say he had to get rid of his latest work was ridiculous.

One would be able to hear only the sounds of Yui's clicking shoes as he made his way to his vehicle. Before he made it around to reach the door though, a closed fist fist came to his head and sent him into unconsciousness.

"I really wish that things hadn't had to turn out this way," said Michelle as she looked down at Yui.

Amara opened her fist and also stared at this man.

"Well, we didn't have much of a choice. This film director was just doing his job. He thought he stumbled upon an idea that would make him billions, but this destiny we're following isn't a show."

Trista knew what Amara said was right. The older woman revealed the Garnet Orb and held it above Yui. Once its red light glowed, engufled him then disappeared, its task was complete.

* * *

**_-Toei Movie Studios Parking Lot-_**

"This plan still worked out perfectly."

Amara drove herself and her friends to the Toei Movie Studios Parking Lot with Yui's car. Yui himself had been placed in the backseat where he was still knocked out and oblivious to what his captors were about to do.

After finding a parking space, everyone got out of the car and locked the doors since they decided to leave Yui inside. He would wake up wondering how he ended up in his car, however everything that occured today and Magikku Senshi-Ryoku Z wasn't in his memory bank.

It took quite a bit of time, but after looking through all of the studio's film equipment, Trista found all of the video clips and let Amara have the honor of breaking them.

The tomboy dumped the ruined films into a trash dumpster outside by the parking lot.

"Good riddance."

Meanwhile, Michelle looked back at Yui inside his car and had a new thought.

"I guess now that this video business is over with, we can get back tracking down Dr. Eggman."

"Yes. That doctor is still in trouble for making a rip in the Space-Time Gate. We need to see what information Sonic can give us."

Thinking of the blue hero led Trista to realizing there were in fact more tasks that need completing...

* * *

**_-Serena's House-_**

Through the dark, moonlit night, Sailor Moon landed and dropped Darien and Rini in front of her home. Next, she detransformed as Darien knocked on the door for her.

Mrs. Tsukino opened the door with Diana in her other arm.

"Oh! Darien! You guys came back pretty early from that concert."

"Well, we decided that it wasn't our style so we stuck around for one song then came back here," Darien rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Well, as long as you all had fun, that's all that matters. This kitten you had me watch was asleep the whole time. I didn't know whether glad or worried."

Mrs. Tsukino handed Diana to Darien.

"Thank you so much for going to the concert with my girls. Here's a blanket to wrap that kitten in. Have a good night."

* * *

**_-Mystic Ruins-_**

"Darien should be on his way with Diana any minute now," Venus told the Moon Cats, "So this is the workshop Tails lives in?"

"Yeah. He built it himself," answered Artemis.

Since Tails had already taken Chad home, he was now in his workshop making some modifications to the X-Tornado, unaware that the others were outside.

"Maybe when we have the picnic you can stop by here and have a look inside."

"Yeah. For now I have to get back home so Amy can get in."

Having given her good-bye, Venus turned around and flew away.

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

Rei poked her head in the hallway to hear what Chad and her grandfather were talking about.

"How was the concert?"

"Oh, it was fine," Chad lied nervously.

"Did you see any pretty girls up there?"

Right when Rei thought she was going to eavesdrop on serious conversation, instead now her grandpa was acting silly.

"Uhh... yeah, I guess so."

"You don't have to be afraid to tell me, Chad! It's just us two men in here!" Grandpa Hino laughed.

Frowning upon her grandpa's usual behavior, Rei headed back for her room however found a familiar hedgehog standing near the door. She entered her room and let him in, closing the door behind her.

"What is it, Sonic?"

Sonic watched Rei get on her bed to sit. There weren't any chairs or stools, so he stayed standing and gave her the answer.

"I just wanted to thank you for saving us earlier."

"You guys are my friends. There's no need to thank me for that."

As if ignoring those last words, Sonic gave a friendly smile to this remark then began for the door.

"See you in the morning, Rei," the hedgehog gave a peace sign with his fingers.

"Good night."

Rei's door was slid close and she laid back on her bed, thinking about what occurred just now.

She'd known Sonic for only about four days and already he was being so nice to her. Not that she disliked his kindess. It was just that Rei had a hard time opening up to people so quickly, given that she had a rough childhood and used to always be teased for having ESP. She was different, considered unusualbor weird. But Sonic didn't seem to view her that way.


	20. Chapter 20

**_-Tails's Workshop-_**

Early in the morning, the soft noise of Diana's yawn filled the living room. She'd had a peaceful rest within the comforts of her mother. Both they and Diana's father curled under thick blankets on Tails's rug.

Diana looked around the room with her little eyes until then turned and looked up at her parents. Both older cats soon woke up when they heard her meowing.

Luna and Artemis smiled down at Diana, happy to see this furred ball of cuteness in their presence. Though an awkward vibe filled the air when Artemis shifted his eyes to Luna and didn't recieve the same emotion. Her smile wasn't real.

"Good morning, guys!"

Awkwardness that resided in the living room disappeared as Tails made his way down from upstairs. The fox stopped beside his couch and put his attention on his feline friends.

"Good morning, Tails," Luna responded politely.

"Good morning, Tails," Artemis also replied, "I never figured you woke up this early. What is the reason?"

"I've started a new invention and I wanted an early start to work on it so that I can show it to Sonic soon."

"A new invention?" Luna asked with curiosity.

"Yeah. I want to keep it as a surprise for Sonic so I'll just let you guys have a peek."

With given confirmation of Tails's motives, the Moon Cats awaited his return with Sonic's surprise present.

"Here it is!" an excited Tails came back to living room and showed his friends a bracelet topped with yellow spikes. In order to devise his machine, it'd been placed around the wrist of a white glove.

"This looks very interesting!" commented Artemis, "Just what does this glove do?"

"This a prototype for the device I call the Magic Gloves. This bracelet I put around it will allow Sonic to pull his enemies towards him then throw them. You could say it's kind of like telekinesis."

Luna examined the Magic Glove and was left impressively amazed. "This is a marvelous invention! I think Sonic will love it when he sees it!"

"Thanks, Luna," Tails smiled then cleared his throat, "Which reminds me... after I make all of us breakfast, I have to get going to the Hikawa Shrine to help Sonic and Amy with our Shinto Trainee duties-"

"Oh, that's fine. Artemis and I will alright here with Diana."

"Are you sure? You guys wouldn't want to take the train with me so we can all be at the shrine together?"

"Yeah, we're sure," Artemis answered calmly, "Sonic is going to love this when he sees it."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah," Artemis smiled confidently.

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

Bright and early in the morning, after everyone woke up and ate breakfast, Rei called her Shinto Trainees outside her house to discuss a certain matter.

Sonic, Tails, and Amy stood as a trio in their uniforms, wondering what Hikawa Shrine's priestess was going to speak to them about.

"As all of you already know, you're here doing jobs to pay back the damages for this shrine's gate. You manage the charm booths, clean the bird bath, wipes the floors, and sometimes prepare food. I told my grandpa that I would have you guys work twice as hard."

Immediately, Amy and Sonic started protesting against this statement.

"Settle down," Rei hushed the hedgehogs, "I know this is sudden, but I had to think of something since my grandpa let us go Metropolis City last night. It wasn't easy convincing him to do that."

Tails didn't like this turn of events, but the fox kept silent because he'd had a calmer approach. On the other hand, Sonic and Amy would have to get used to the change.

"How much longer do we have to work for you?" Amy asked Rei.

"Until this shrine makes enough sales to give us the money to fix our gate."

With a conclusion reached and their meeting over, Amy turned towards Sonic and parted her lips. "You and Knuckles got yourselves into a huge mess. Now we have to work twice as hard to pay off the debt."

"Not to worry. With you and Tails to help, the work will still go by faster. We can do this." Sonic glanced at Tails and spoke to both him and Amy. "I'll take care of the laundry. Tails, you could wipe the floors, and Amy, you manage the charm booth. Each of us is the best at those things."

Sonic's friends nodded with newfound encouragement and scurried off to begin their chosen duties.

_**Song Insert: Sonic Adventure DX "Emerald Coast 1 [extended]"**_

Just as Sonic had declared, he and his friends finished their jobs excellently.

Tails took off his shoes, gripped the cloth that was needed, and started across the floor. He would make sure to leave these floors spotless. The fox went up and down the halls as he was closer to wiping down all of the floors in the Hikawa Residence. This was a big challenge in itself, but that was what'd been assigned. He had to accomplish it.

Sonic's words from earlier came to Tails's mind and so he kept his determination.

As for Amy, who showed quite the charisma and proved herself to be a social butterfly, sold so many charm bracelet's that the customers grew to like their customer service and left almost no more accesories for her to sell.

"This is amazing! I've sold almost all of our charm bracelets!"

Maybe Rei hadn't approved of Sonic letting his speed do the work, but when it came time to hang the washed laundry, the hedgehog came up with a new technique.

An arrogrant grin flashed across Sonic's face as he summoned Sonic Wind and let the blue air dry all of the clothes pinned on the clothesline. Watching one of his attacks do the work left Sonic feeling awfully proud. In this manner, Sonic wouldn't have to wait for the clothes to air dry; he could instead finish the task his way and complete all of the laundry faster.

Obviously Crossroads City's civilians couldn't see the work that Hikawa Shrine's Shinto Trainees were doing, but when they passed by it, they felt the curiosity to walk up its staircase and visit it.

Preoccupied with sweeping the shrine's grounds, Chad happened to see a group of people appear and ask about their destroyed gate.

"Oh... it was broken by accident, but we're working on getting it repaired quickly," the Shinto Trainee explained nervously, "... you want to check out this shrine? Well, follow me."

Chad first walked Hikawa Shrine's visitors over to Amy, who managed to provide them with the last few charm bracelets. Next, they viewed their surroundings and were in awe of the cherry blossom trees. This shrine surely was safe with those ward symbols tied around these trees.

"Well, would you look at that? We're getting visitors!" Hino moved away from the front door and turned to his grand-daughter. "They're seeing that this shrine has a peaceful and welcoming vibe to it. This kind of attention calls for a celebration!"

"What kind of celebration?" Rei asked.

"This time is in the season of Autumn and harvest. It's Shinto tradition to hold a public festival each year to mark the seasons. This year we could try holding a festival, right here in the shrine."

"Matsuri..." Rei repeated this event's name in Japanese, "I like that idea. Do we have enough money to for food and materials?"

"With all of the charms your friend Amy has sold today, we should have more than enough."

Hino stepped away and began down the hallway, leaving Rei to peek outside their door and also see the attention their shrine was getting. This sort of event didn't take place often. Sonic and his friends really had worked hard this time.

**_-Song Insert Ends-_**

* * *

**_-Mystic Ruins-_**

After learning how Artemis spent his day yesterday, an overwhelmed Luna listened to the rest of what he had to say.

"After finding my way at the end of that temple, I was transported by this orange light to Angel Island. It looked just as Tails described it. I was there on top of the Master Emerald Altar when I saw Knuckles walking up its staircase. But he was younger."

Luna arched her brow when she heard this last statement.

"Knuckles never knew his parents, Luna. He was the last of his kind who had to bear so much responsibility without anyone's help. The Master Emerald is a responsibility so large for anyone to keep, but too large for him. So... since Diana has her parents, I believe we should... l-look past our feelings and make sure she doesn't have to face her challenges alone."

With all of his thoughts gotten off his chest, a blushing Artemis waited for his partner to respond. He understood if hearing all of his explanation at once was too much for her to bear. Though the male cat felt that that travel to the past occurred to him for a special reason.

Luna wasn't sure how to respond to this. First, Artemis had been mysteriously gone for a long time. And now, he was proclaiming that they needed to set their emotions aside and be parents for Diana's sake.

...

...

"... I know this is all a lot for you to take in. But the fate of Diana and Rini depends on this."

"I understand."

Artemis's eyes widened with surprise. "Y-you do?"

"The fate of Crystal Tokyo is partly in our hands... so we must do everything we can to make sure nothing changes it."

Artemis felt a tad bit relieved to hear Luna say these words. It wouldn't be easy getting accustomed to parenthood... but it was their destiny.

In the meantime, Luna returned by Diana's side to lay beside her. Artemis sat still in wondrance of how he and Luna would come together for their child.

... they weren't in love.

* * *

**_-Crown Fruit Parlor-_**

Sitting across from Trista inside the Crown Fruit Parlor, Serena felt curious as to why Trista asked her to come here to begin with; for this request was a sudden surprise.

Trista preferred not to order any drinks, so she watched her younger friend sip on her chocolate strawberry smoothie. After Serena was finished, this was when Trista parted her lips.

"You're probably wondering why I called you here, Serena. What I have to tell you is highly important, so please listen carefully."

Serena became serious and set her beverage aside.

"You and the others have already discovered your destinies. Your futures are planned out and you understand that because of Rini and Crystal Tokyo. Have you ever wondered why you met Sonic?"

This question of Trista's stunned Serena as she did not respond so soon. The Moon Princess honestly hadn't asked herself about this subject. So she simply replied, "No."

A few moments passed before Trista continued her explanation. "Sonic and the rest of his friends are connected to you more than you may think. I must begin this story from the beginning so you'll understand why they came here." Trista promptly cleared her throat. "Since the dawn of time, there has been a war between Sailor Soldiers and Chaos, the most ultimate evil the galaxy has ever seen. In this battle was a soldier named Sailor Galaxia. As this war finally drew to a close, Sailor Galaxia trapped Chaos and sealed it in her body to save the galaxy. But Chaos was too strong for her to contain it permanently. Eventually, she fell under its influence and began attacking different planets in the galaxy."

Serena remained silent as she grew verily cautious of this Sailor Galaxia now.

"It didn't matter how many innocent lives were taken. She kept destroying planet after planet, gathering loyal followers along the way by promising them power. They were collaberated into what's known as the Shadow Galactica, a group of evil Sailor Soldiers who steal Sailor Crystals to add to Sailor Galaxia's collection... Sonic lived in the Silver Millenium as well as us, Princess."

"What?"

"He came from the planet, Mobius, a peaceful, blue planet where animals are anthropomorphous and have the ability to speak. Sailor Galaxia saw that this planet contained creatures with incredible powers, so she tried to convince them to become her followers. But of course, they declined. Sailor Galaxia grew furious and tried to obliterate them, but a hedgehog covered in golden light defeated her and sent her into darkness."

"So... Sonic is that hedgehog who sent her away?"

"Yes."

"And now him and the others are here to help us beat her?" Serena asked with a speechless tone.

"Precisely. He isn't aware of the Outer Scouts' identities, or the Inner Scouts'-"

"Well actually, we ended up confessing our identities to them a while ago."

"Oh," Trista responded in a simple manner, "Then, that just leaves them to learn who the Outer Scouts are. It's important that we form an alliance now that the Space-Time Gate has revealed these things to us. We don't know what Sailor Galaxia will throw at us."

"Yeah. And we should also tell the others about this."

"Yes, but not yet. We have to wait until Sonic knows who he is."

Serena nodded in full agreement to this statement.


	21. Chapter 21

**_-Egg Carrier Garden-_**

As the Egg Carrier was a giant ship, there existed a small island where Eggman sometimes landed it to work inside the base he constructed. So this land became otherwise known as Egg Carrier Garden.

Although this haven was used for evil purposes, it was still relaxing and peaceful. Mikan could be seen laying on its soft sands underneath her beach umbrella. Both her sunglasses and bathing suit had of course been provided by Eggman since they came in a red and the bathing suit bore his symbol.

Egg Carrier Garden's tropical scent wafted through the air. Seagulls chirped and glided through the area. The waves flowed gently across the sandy floor.

"Hey! I'm just gettin' started!"

At this sound of Bokkun's voice, Mikan raised her shades to look at him. This robotic child, Bocoe, and Docoe were having a water-gun fight as they shot streams of water at each other until it was time to refill their weapons.

"Oh no you don't, Docoe! I'm sure that I'll be the winner this time," proclaimed Bocoe.

"Sorry, but that is not happening!" Docoe aimed his water gun at Bocoe and managed to shot him in the eyes.

Bocoe growled and angrily wiped water from his eyes. "You won't get away with that!"

Mikan put her sunglasses back on and watched Bocoe and these other competitive lackeys squirt each other until they were yelled at by Eggman to return to the tasks he assigned them.

"Still sitting under this umbrella, I see." Moments later, with both arms behind his back, Eggman stood beside Mikan and also looked at the ocean. "I'm always busy working up schemes to stop that pesky hedgehog so I don't take the time to see how beautiful this ocean is."

The conversation grew silent as both Mikan and Eggman spectated the breathtaking view of the ocean. Its gentle waves crashing against the shore and exotic seashells galoring along the sands calmed them. For a lovely beach to be used for villainous purposes was truly ironic.

Eggman turned to Mikan and parted his lips. "Soon this beach and the rest of the world will belong to me. They only way to accomplish this is by gathering all of the Legendary Sailor Scouts and turning them into my slaves. In the meantime, I have another task for you."

* * *

**_-Crossroads City-_**

Aluminum Siren's life was spared.

This polite, light-hearted, scatterbrained woman was of no more use to Galaxia, so rather than destroy her, the leader forgot about her and sent out servants who would actually carry out her plan.

Aluminum Siren strolled down the sidewalk with the deepest frown on her face. Tragic flashbacks played in her mind.

Akane. Encounter with Sailor Moon. Fighting her. That Moon Tiara... Akane's death.

No matter how much food this compulsive woman ate, no matter what she distracted herself with, she couldn't forget. Until Reiko developed a way to have her revenge on Sailor Moon, she was a regular citizen just like the rest of these civilians driving cars and walking up and down the sidewalks.

After crossing the next street in front of her, Aluminum Siren spotted a taxi cab drive past her with two familiar girls in the backseat. One wore a hat with black cat ears while the other carried a pair of mouse ears.

"Nyanko! Chuuko!"

This taxi cab was heading straight ahead, so Aluminum Siren quickened her pace and started following it.

* * *

**_-Crossroads City Hospital-_**

To Aluminum Siren's surprise, Tin Nyanko and Iron Mouse ended up in front of a hospital and exited the taxi cab as soon the driver opened their door.

Tin Nyanko hurried towards the hospital's entrance with her partner in her arms. A receptionist at the hospital's front desk heard Tin Nyanko out and told her that doctors and nurses would soon come to get Iron Mouse, but Tin Nyanko was impatient.

"She needs a doctor right now!"

"Mam', I understand, but visitors aren't allowed to be inside the emergency room. Please, calm down and wait until the help arrives."

Nyanko helped Chuuko sit in the chair next to her as she was still breathing heavily and feeling drained, so much that she couldn't keep her posture and needed to lay against Nyanko.

"Everything's going to be fine, Chuuko." Nyanko embraced her friend and never let go. Having her bracelets removed from her wrists was the way that Galaxia designed for her and all of the other Sailor Animamates to live. With those life-sustaining accessories, they were as a good as dead.

Several doctors and nurses came just as the receptionist confirmed they would. Tin Nyanko sat outside the emergency room on a bench and couldn't stop shaking. Iron Mouse being on the verge of death was her fault. Normally, Nyanko acted egotistical and didn't like admitting her faults. But this time was different.

While going through this nervous breakdown and fighting to hold her tears back, a person to her remembrance entered the room and shocked her.

"Reiko?" Tin Nyanko was speechless as this retired Sailor Animamate approached her. "What are you out of all people doing here?"

"I noticed you and Chuuko come this way inside a taxi cab. Where is Chuuko?"

"... she's in that room over there."

Aluminum Siren looked to where Tin Nyanko pointed and promptly headed towards it.

"They won't let you in, dummy!"

"Oh..." Aluminum Siren stared at the door with a sad expression, "What's going to happen to her?"

When Tin Nyanko wanted to answer, the words slipped from her mouth.

Aluminum gave a despairing reaction then looked away with a hateful frown. "That little brat is to blame for this...!"

At the mention of Sailor Moon, Tin Nyanko's anger was refueled and she frowned as well. That Sailor Scout was the cause of all of this... for it, she would pay dearly. Her death would make up for the harm brought to Iron Mouse and Master Galaxia would be most pleased.

"If it wasn't for her, then Chuuko wouldn't be in this hospital right now," Aluminum Siren continued furiously, "We need to find a way to steal the Silver Crystal and get rid of Sailor Moon once and for all!"

"We will," Tin Nyanko replied in a serious voice, "I'll make sure that brat doesn't transform into Sailor Moon anymore. Then she won't have any way to stop us."

"What about her friends? They'll get in the way."

As Tin Nyanko took in this response, the Cat Soldier began thinking to herself. And moments later, a cunning grin spread across her face. "Then we'll just have to make sure that they aren't together to get in the way."

Aluminum Siren's mood changed from furious to puzzled in an instant. "I'm not sure if I understand."

Tin Nyanko sighed irratibly and slapped her forehead. "We're going to come up with a plan that will make Sailor Moon's friends turn against each other. When that happens she'll be alone and won't have anyone to protect her."

"Oh, I get it."

Suddenly, a nurse came from within the room Chuuko was in and startled the Sailor Animamates. She prepared to speak but they talked first and asked about Chuuko.

"Yes, she's fine. We have her on life support."

The nurse led Chuuko's friends inside they room and they discovered her laying asleep in a bed with a tube amongst her. This tube was connected a medical ventilator and the bag valve mask covering her mouth, therefore providing breathing when she was unable to. Having difficulty breathing was what the doctors pointed out and so Chuuko was diagnosed with asthma. But her friends knew the real cause.

Neither Tin Nyanko or Aluminum Siren said a word as they stared down at the sleeping Chuuko. They watched her chest slowly bob up and down as she was getting the rest she needed.

These medical officials had managed to resolve Chuuko's dilemma to a degree. She was comfortable and in a safe place. Deep down, both her team mates were grateful that they arrived at this hospital when they had, or else else she would have died.

Seeing the Mouse Soldier with this plastic item over her face calmed Tin Nyanko's nerves. Her partner was going to be okay.

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

With a good job well done, Sonic had been rewarded with a free jog so he stepped back into the Hikawa Shrine whistling happily. There were no more chores so the hedgehog could turn back around and go running again, but Tails asked if he could meet him in his room.

"Hey. So what's up?" Sonic greeted the fox.

Before Tails responded, he opened the drawer on his nightstand and presented the Magic Gloves. "This is my latest invention, the Magic Gloves."

Sonic gave a short whistle as this invention amazed him. "Pretty cool! What do they do when you put them on?"

"I designed them to let you shrink your enemies and throw them. That bracelet around your glove is what helps allow you to force them towards you."

"That's awesome! Do you think I could try them out?"

"Sure." Tails handed Sonic the Magic Gloves and watched him switch them with his usual pair, then repeatedly open and close his hand to get a feel for the Magic Gloves. Perfect fit.

"Perfect fit!" Sonic examined his hands, "Now we just need practice targets."

"Green Hill might have some robots you missed."

And so this practice activity was settled.

After taking a bubbly bath, Amy stepped out onto the veranda in her original attire and wore satisfied smile. "Ahh... it's feels so good to finally get out of that uniform!" Next, the pink hedgehog decided to look for Sonic and Tails to see what they were doing. She called their names only to notice them come from inside the house without their uniforms to, however they never turned around to see her.

"Hey!"

Silently, they spun around and gave the pink hedgehog their attention.

"Where are you two going?" Amy asked curiously.

"To try out these new gloves Tails gave me," Sonic showed Amy his handwear.

Amy studied it and was impressed by the fine quality of these mechanized gloves. "Wow! Those look nice! Can I come with you guys to watch too?"

A nervous Sonic answered, "Uhh... maybe some other time."

"Wait!" Amy ran some of the way after Sonic but found herself stopping and growled in defeat. "I hate it when they leave me behind!"

* * *

**_-Green Hill-_**

**_-Song Insert: Sonic Heroes "Seaside Hill Zone"-_**

After passing through puffy, white clouds, Sonic looked down from the plane wing he was standing on and could see Green Hill. It looked just as it had all those years ago when he first visited it. Its blended aroma of tropic fruit and sea salt along with the unforgettable memories all came flooding back to him.

A grin flashed across his face.

Tails planned to exit the X-Tornado and join up with Sonic after parking it, so for now, Sonic dove down from the plane wing and made his way torwards the green land below. He took off in a burst of blue energy the instant his sneakers touched its ground.

Somewhere on this island, he was sure to find some remaining robots of Eggman's hanging around.

Sonic ran through a loop and noticed his first practice target standing by a bush.

"Alright," the hero looked down at his gloves, "Let's do this!"

In order to utilize the Magic Gloves, Sonic would have to be familiar with telekinesis. So according to Tails, there were theories on telekinesis that said, "Energy flows where our attention goes and our attention goes where our focus goes, so we must simply connect with whatever we are trying to move," and, "No matter how small our focus is it does effect the thing somehow, and greater focus equals to greater effect," So Sonic concentrated and put all of his focus onto the robot. He extended his glove that bore the yellow spikes and soon saw his target be drawn torwards it. Then a clear white ball formed around it and Sonic chose to throw it into a boulder. That robot collided with the boulder and exploded into a million pieces. Easy as pie.

"That was cool!"

"I see you're already getting the hang of the Magic Gloves," Tails interjected as he appeared behind the hedgehog, "The more you strengthen your mind and increase your focus, you'll be able to lift heavier objects. It just takes one day at a time."

"Sounds good to me!" Sonic gave a thumbs up and winked.

"Somebody, please save me!"

Quickly, Sonic and Tails looked forward when they heard this helpless cry enter the atmosphere. These heroes heard it come from down below the hill they were on so they hurried torwards the cliff and spotted a couple of robots chasing down one along the waters.

Both Tails and Sonic's eyes popped out of their heads when they discovered who this single robot was as they came to recognize it.

"Omochao!"

This Omochao character flew for his life as his assaulters stayed on his tail and steadily the distance between them lessened. A wall would appear soon and leave Omochao surrounded with no other way to turn. He gulped in fear when he approached it and looked back at the other robots. Their plasma guns were loaded and ready.

Omochao whimpered as they neared closer and closer to him, wincing as their guns were pointed at him. But strangely, he felt no pain nor heard any firing take off.

"Huh?" The robot grew confused as he discovered his attackers as a pile or metal scraps lying in one pile. He looked up and saw people whom he verily remembered and was at a loss of words.

**_-Song Insert ends-_**

"Y-you two! The hedgehog and fox who I helped guide through the different adventure zones!"

With a heroic demeanor about himself, Sonic smiled down at Omochao and replie, "Yep, that's us! My name's Sonic and this is my best friend, Tails."

"It's nice to see you again, Omochao," Tails knelt down in front of the robot, "But what were you doing out here?"

"I love it here. This became my home after the last time I saw the both of you. But those robots who tried to capture me were ordered by their creator to clear this island of everything that does not associate with them. So I had no choice but to try and escape, and that was when you and Sonic appeared."

"Hmm. Sounds like Egghead isn't giving us much of a break," Sonic responded dryly, "Well, little guy, until we have time to fix this problem, it'd be best if you left this island and moved to somewhere safer."

"You mean leave? No, I cannot do that! Where will I go?"

"There's a city far from here that doesn't have any of Eggman's robots bothering it. It's where we've been staying for the past few days," Tails explained precisely.

"Hmmm..." Omochao used some time to think about what Tails was saying. "Well, what you are saying sounds convincing. I guess I will accept your suggestion and accompany you both to this city of yours."

"Yeah, you'll love it there! We have really good friends who live there." Sonic thought to specifically Rei and Serena as he said this. "Let's get a move-on."

After concluding the conversation with these last words, Sonic and his friends traveled back to where ever Tails parked the X-Tornado, hopped in it, and flew back into the direction of Crossroads City.

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

After their discussion inside the Crown Fruit Parlor, Serena and Trista went to the Hikawa Shrine and asked their friends to also be there. The Moon Cats couldn't be present since they still were watching over Diana in Tails's house.

From the smallest to the tallest, all of Serena and Sonic's friends stood in a circle and waited for the meeting to begin, except Sonic and Tails were no where to be found.

"Where are those two?" Rei asked, looking around impatiently, "They finished their chores but that doesn't mean they get to go on vacation."

"Tails created a new device for Sonic and they left to go try it out." Even as Amy spoke with a low tone about this, her human friends each turned to her with surprise.

"A new device?" asked Serena, "What exactly was it?"

"I'm not totally sure, it was this stylish pair of gloves."

Serena began to ponder on what these gloves of Tails's were about. Meanwhile, Lita turned her eyes to Amy.

"Well you don't sound happy for them," Lita said worriedly.

"They didn't let me go with them!"

"Oh..."

Deep down, Lita wanted to say something to cheer Amy up, but a familiar pair entered the atmosphere before she could begin to speak.

"It's about time!" Rei and Amy spoke in unintended unison. They looked to each other but brushed away their thoughts. Sonic and Tails were back and that was what mattered.

"What do you mean? Did we miss a party or something?" Sonic asked innocently.

"Hey! I remember that person." Cream pointed out Omochao.

"Omochao? What are you doing here?" asked Amy.

"Well, after Sonic and Tails rescued me, they told me that it would be best if I stayed here until the conditions in Green Hill get better." Omochao finally noticed Serena and her group of friends, growing nervous when he received the different, curious stares from them. "Oh... ahem... Sonic, are these humans here the other friends you told me about?"

"Yeah, this is them."

After being introduced to each and every one, Omochao then introduced himself by going into further detail about one of the adventures he guided the Sonic Heroes through.

"That is very interesting," Ami said to Omochao, "When I have the time, it looks like we'll have to sit down and chat."

Omochao laughed heartily. "Sure, I do not mind doing that."

Trista didn't like ruining casual moments, but enough time had been wasted already. "Sonic. If you and your friends could join me, Amara, and Michelle in Rei's home. Serena."

In wonder of Trista's request, the Sonic Heroes did as they were told while Omochao was told he had to stay behind. Though he gladly suggested to share more of his stories about the Sonic Heroes and their adventure days. Serena followed Trista without question as she already knew why she was called.

"You're all probably wondering why we called you in here and not everyone else," Trista began when everyone found their spots around Rei's table, "What we are about to share with you is something that will determine your destinies. It wasn't just by chance or coincidence that all of you were drawn here to Crossroads City."

Sonic remained stoic as new questions began swimming through his mind. Just what was Trista getting at? What did she mean by their arrival here wasn't just coincidence?

"We were told that you already learned of Sailor Moon and her allies. It's also best if you learn that we're Sailor Scouts as well."

Tails gawked though couldn't respond as the Outer Scouts' transformations had already commenced.

Each Sailor Soldier went through their changes until they reappeared in their uniforms.

"No way!" Amy gasped, putting her hand over her mouth.

Vanilla and Cream couldn't help but cover their mouths as well. This trio of women who they'd recently befriended turned out to also be magical heroines just like Sailor Moon. This idea never came to the minds of any of the Sonic Heroes. They were given no choice but to witness and accept this with only little time but there would be some difficulties.

Knowing she would recieve these reactions, Pluto shifted her eyes to Sonic who showed the most shock.

"It was you all along! You, Michelle, and Amara."

"Huh?" Tails thought out loud.

"Everything makes sense now... I helped you stop Eggman and when you decided you wouldn't reveal yourselves just yet, you erased my memories," Sonic continued, "Now I know who those Sailor Scouts were."

"We understand if you're upset with us, Sonic. We weren't expecting to team up with you to take down Dr. Eggman. At that time, we took precautions about revealing our identities to someone who we had barely made acquaintances with, so yes, we erased your memories." A smidge of concern showed on Pluto's face. "You have to understand that that moment wouldn't have been the right time to tell you all of this. It's better now when you're aware of the new evil that's been spotted."

"Forgive me, for interrupting, dear, but I'm afraid I don't understand any of this," Vanilla interjected respectfully.

"That's fine, Miss Vanilla," Neptune gave a tiny smile, "We'll start this story from the beginning."

As Uranus hadn't given any words yet, Neptune looked to the Sky Soldier nudging her to answer Vanilla's question. Uranus sensed this expectation and parted her lips. She began by explaining the war between Sailor Soldiers and Chaos that'd lasted ever since the beginning of time and how that related to Sailor Galaxia and the Sonic Heroes.

Neither Vanilla or the others knew what how to respond.

...

...

"We're all reincarnations?" Tails asked in befuddlement.

"Yes. The next thing to do now is for us to help you all awaken those memories, and then you will be ready." Uranus turned her sight to Serena. "Buns. You know what needs to be done next."

Serena nodded and shouted her transformation cry. "MOON... ETERNAL... MAKE... UP!"

Vanilla was astonished as she saw Sailor Moon. This heroine's suit's elegance and color scheme made her look so lovely. "Serena, dear..."

Sailor Moon gave a weak smile in response to this rabbit then carried on with the rest of her task. She summoned what was known as the Moon Stick and presented it to Vanilla.

Vanilla studied it then looked back up at its owner curiously. "What is this beautiful object?"

"It's the Moon Stick. It's what we'll be using to restore your memories."

The Silver Crystal docked onto it struck everyone with awe because of its dazzling beauty. Amy and Cream were the most amazed as they had never seen anything like it; the Chaos Emeralds were rich in energy and power, but their beauty didn't compare to the what they saw now.

"Everyone. Close your eyes and try to think back to the earliest point in your life."

The Sonic Heroes listened to Sailor Moon as she raised her voice.

"MOON, PRISM, POWER!"

As her Moon stick emanated a trail of mist and glitter, Sailor Moon drew a circle around her furry friends, causing awesome rays of light and white energy to emit. Sonic felt this power flow through his body and give him the memories buried from so long ago...

* * *

**_-South Island-_**

It had been a sunny day. The world stood in the balance, Eggman had recently been sent away in defeat for trying to unleash another one of his ridiculous schemes. Tough luck.

"Guess Eggman learned his lesson, yep. And maybe I'll take another vacation somewhere..." Sonic laid back on the soft grass with both arms behind his head. This blue hero decided to relax and take it easy, sure that one of his friends would appear before him and keep his day moving. That was how it usually took place.

"Little hedgehog."

This cold, feminine voice startled Sonic from his comfortable slumber. He jumped up and came face to face with the woman who's face he was sure to see again. Fiery red eyes, an elegant golden crown atop their head.

Rather than stand in fear like most people had when they came in contact with this woman, Sonic stood bravely. He had never seen anyone like this.

"You must be the one they call Sonic," the woman continued, "I have a proposition for you that I am sure you will accept."

"Just what kind of proposition?" Sonic crossed his arms suspiciously.

"You aren't like the others on this planet. You hold something special, something that would make a great asset to me and my army. If you join my allegiance and become my right-hand man, then you shall have as much power as you want. We could destroy these miserable planets who dare to oppose us together and rule like kings."

Obviously by the time this response had been given, Sonic felt uncomfortable and would decline. What this woman asked him went against everything he stood for, everything he lived by.

"I can't accept your offer."

"What? And why do you say that?"

"Because I'm no one's lackey."

Dissatisfied by Sonic's reply, the woman became appalled and made a frown.

"What you see is what you get! Just a guy who loves adventure."

As enraged as the woman was, she held her emotions in by balling up her fist.

"Is that so? Well, don't say I didn't give you the opportunity. Prepare to be destroyed along with the rest of this pathetic planet!"

* * *

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

...

...

When Sonic opened his eyes, he was in the same room with his friends still surrounding him. Now everything was crystal clear.

"I remember... South Island was where we came from. Back then there was more peace but then that woman came and destroyed everything."

"That's not all," Tails added his input, "... there was so much more of us. Different civilizations with foxes, hedgehogs, rabbits, bats, even echidnas. We were a prosperous society until that woman came and wreaked havoc. Sailor Galaxia, top commander of the Shadow Galactica."

The more her friends referred to their past lives, the more urge Amy felt to speak on her memories. "But the few of us managed to survive that war. After Sonic turned into Super Sonic and sent the Shadow Galactica away, our world was still on the verge of ceasing to exist. So Knuckles prayed to the Master Emerald and asked it to send us who survived to the future."

Vanilla finished this tragic narration. "As each of us were being sent to the future that would give us another chance, our planet exploded and took everything with it. Never again will we have a home to go back to, but that's why we've reincarnated here. To make this our new home. We may not get to have the era of peace we shared in the past, but this century we live in now can be the same thing."

"That's right. You can't look back to the past. The future is calling for us and we can't ignore it's plea. So, Miss Vanilla... Cream... Amy... Tails... Sonic?" Pluto looked to the blue hedgehog last, "Will you help us to stop Sailor Galaxia and finally put an end to this war between the Sailor Soldiers and Chaos?"

Sonic and his comrades thought about this question for some time. The fate of the world depended on their choices. They'd lived in a millenium 10,000 years ago and now retained memories of it. Somewhere out there, Sailor Galaxia was plotting the ultimate scheme to end this war where Chaos would be victorious and Earth would be demolished like the many other planets Shadow Galatica destroyed..

Sailor Moon and the Outer Scouts waited for an answer.

"Definitely," Sonic smiled at Pluto, "It's like you said, we're all in this together. Let's show Galaxia the real power of teamwork."

To conclude and seal their mutual agreement, thus forming their new alliance, Sonic extended his hand torwards Pluto. The Time and Space Guardian accepted this kind gesture and shook his hand, forming them and their friends into a team that was decided as Sonic Moon.


	22. Chapter 22

**_-Hikawa Shrine-_**

Now that Sonic Moon was formed, this new team would have what was necessary to win if they expected to defeat the Shadow Galactica. Omochao, who was the newest addition to the team, was still unaware of their background and so Trista thoroughly explained their history to him.

"I understand. I would be happy to assist Sonic Moon in any way I can."

"Since you mention it, Omochao," Tails began casually, "Maybe you could help me devise new communicators for us to stay connected with the Sailor Scouts."

"Sure!"

Being the leader of the Sonic Heroes and sole protector of his homeland, Sonic was excited about the idea of Sonic Moon. He was glad to have stumbled upon and made such great friends with the Sailor Soldiers of the Solar System. However, the hedgehog felt the need to have a private discussion with Trista in terms of a question he gave her. They were taking a stroll past Hikawa Shrine's cherry trees as they conversed.

"You won't be able to restore their memories," Trista referred to Sonic's friends besides those in Sonic Moon.

"Why?"

Trista noticed that Sonic ceased his footsteps and stopped beside him. "They wouldn't believe you. The fall of the Moon Kingdom was a time meant to be forgotten, but the Queen saw it fit to restore our memories so we can save this world from perishing. Your friends will have to come to themselves without any outside help."

Sonic stayed quiet as he took Trista's words into consideration. He pondered and pondered on this situation until he couldn't think of a reply. At this absent remark, he felt his older friend place a gentle hand on his shoulder. She opened her mouth to speak, however a pink petal floated down from its branch and Sonic discovered it. The thoughtful hedgehog opened his palm to catch it and stared at it. He could only think about how it was pink, pretty, and fragile.

"Rini is like this cherry blossom you're holding," Trista spoke in a calm manner, "We have to do everything we can to be there for her. She wants to be the Sailor Soldier that her mother hopes for, but she's still a child. There are still some challenges in her life that she hasn't faced yet."

"I understand. I'll be there for her when I can. I'm sure Amy and Vanilla would know what to say to her too."

"Thanks for that suggestion. I'll tell the others about this. Luna and Artemis have to deal with this same situation too if you think about it."

"They do?"

"Yes, since Diana is their daughter-to-be after all. Diana is Rini's guardian and cherished pet. They share a bond that helps them find their destinies in Crystal Tokyo. If they weren't to be in each other's lives then the Space-Time Door would alter our timeline in a way that some events don't come to pass."

"Just what events? What exactly are there destinies? How do my friends and I fit into this future?"

Trista sadly closed her eyes as the young woman knew what Sonic's response to her answer would be. "Unfortunately, I can't give out those details. A rip in the Space Time Door could appear if I were to show your future because you may not like what it holds, and as the Space-Time Guardian, I cannot overlook that."

Sonic stood stunned by these words and couldn't speak.

"If you were to learn about your life in Crystal Tokyo, then you may try to change or prevent it if you didn't like how it turned out. Time has a mysterious way of presenting itself sometimes. We make our decisions and listen to our hearts. Where you end up is what you'll realize you've always wanted, because we evolve and change. Take my word for it, Sonic. It will be what you've wanted all along."

"What I've wanted all along..."

A tiny smile came to Trista's lips as she saw her words cheer Sonic up. "Time has shown me that you're one of the few people I can trust."

"Heh heh," Sonic smiled back.

* * *

"I called you three in here because of the vision I had about us and our new transformation brooches. Last night we were able to transform and help fly everyone away from that hot lava, but our other abilities will only be unlocked if we train," Rei explained to Ami, Mina, and Lita.

"I agree with that idea. Whereever we train, it should be somewhere big. Somewhere where there aren't any distractions," Ami shared this idea, "We do also have to keep in mind that we've barely started high school."

While Rei and her other three friends held their meeting in her room, the rest of Sonic Moon stayed outside and hung out with each other. Not Serena though.

While everyone else laughed and became deeper interested in what was being said, she found herself sitting on the veranda feeling sorry for herself. She was the leader of the Sailor Scouts and this was the first meeting that she wasn't involved with. She wasn't used to this new feeling and so she didn't know how to deal with it other than to think, "Maybe they don't need me this time."

"Hey." At this same time, Darien appeared and sat beside Serena as he sensed her feelings.

She said, "Hey" back to him and felt him link his arm around her shoulders.

"Don't feel down about their meeting. They're only trying to do what Rei saw in her vision. That doesn't necessarily mean you're not involved."

"It doesn't?"

"Of course not," Darien gave a broad smile, "Maybe Trista would be allowed to tell you what your purpose is in this."

"You're right," Serena smiled back, "I'll ask her tomorrow at the picnic."

* * *

Sonic felt proud and excited that him and the Sailor Scouts would be on the same team now. He remembered back to the day at the beach where he saw Sailor Moon for the first time and was fascinated by her appearance. He vowed to fight alongside her, and now he would always be able to.

While everyone else went outside, Rei stayed inside her house as her grandpa wanted to have an important discussion with her. They talked about their shrine's Shinto Trainees and how close they were to working off the hours that would make up the gate damages. Soon, they would be finished wiping floors and selling charm bracelets. Rei was glad to hear this although the priestess realized that time passed by too quickly.

"When they're work is done, they're free to stay here if they want to be Shinto Trainees for our shrine," Grandpa Hino explained to Rei.

"R-right."

Rei hadn't expected this day to come so soon. As her furry friends did their chores successfully and didn't cause trouble, Rei, no matter how much she denied it, liked having them in the shrine. Days that her best friends couldn't come weren't dull anymore since Sonic was around. He taught Rei something, that even if a person may be different, they are still special and it's better to accept gifts from those who care because some people never receive anything.

The gift that Sonic gave Rei sat in its box on her dresser next to her lamp. Only her friends knew about it and she never put it on because she still battled with the hesitation. Reflecting on her brewing friendship towards Sonic today however changed that. The priestess went inside her room then retrieved her jewelry and slipped it on her finger. She moved her hand from side to side as she studied this ring and loved how it looked on her. With all due honesty, it looked attractive and stood out so well because of the red butterfly on it. Red was her favorite color.

* * *

While following the others, Lita couldn't help but think about how her first day of high school would be. There were only two more days until then and time was moving by quickly.

If not for a certain incident that occurred five days ago, then she would've already attended school. The issue was that as Lita and her friends went up to their high school to check it out, an old bully from Lita's elementary school decided to pick on her. And at this same time, their principal happened to be in the area and notice this dilemma. His words to specifically Lita had been, "There's no point in you coming to school on Monday if you'll still be behaving like this. I'm suspending you now for this week until you're actually prepared to come to school."

This entire situation was why Lita thought on it now and hoped that her first day would turn out great for her; for the brunette really wanted to hang out with her friends at school, walk home with them, say hi to them in between classes, even maybe talk about the cute guys they noticed sometimes. Hopefully, it would all turn out for the best.

After being cheered up by Darien, Serena noticed Rei walk up to her and say, "You won't get to be with us this time, but you're still a good leader."

In no way had Serena expected these words. The girl who bickered with her, teased her by always nicknamed her, "Meat Ball Head," it felt almost unreal to Serena. But then the blonde looked to the rest of her team and saw all of the gentle smiles on their faces.

Specifically Sonic had his arms folded and he glanced at Rei. This hedgehog had always known that with a little more love and time that she would open up to everyone more. And he was proud of that. She wasn't the sheltered, strange girl who people from her past made her out to be.

Serena looked back at Rei and smiled, having some trouble saying, "Thanks, Rei."

This moment between Serena, Rei, and the rest of Sonic Moon was so heartfelt and precious. So warming and familial that it was a shock to see it be ruined by a familiar grandfather's voice.

"You're here to see our charm bracelets? Well right this way."

Quickly, Rei spun around and indeed spotted her grandpa. He was guiding another young girl towards their shrine, up to nothing else but to flirt and joke around. She wasted no time in stomping over to him however she excused herself without the others' consent.

"He's always like this, isn't he?" Sonic asked with deadpanned expression on his face.

"Yep. For as long as I've known him anyway," responded Serena, stretching her arms to yawn.

"Oh my..." Vanilla thought worriedly, covering her children's eyes from this rash confrontation.

As everyone was distracted with Rei fussing at Grandpa Hino, Trista shifted her eyes directly to Amy. At the moment, Amy seemed content and pleased with the way her life had went ever since she moved here to Crossroads City. She made wonderful friends, learned about her past and connection to Galaxia. Though soon all of that would change...

* * *

**_-Egg Carrier-_**

Eggman and his subordinates had their fun in the Egg Carrier Garden on its splendid beach, though he'd called them to their different tasks and now each of those was finally complete. Docoe and Bocoe were assigned to do a roll call on his army of Shadow Androids, and in total they counted 50,000. Mikan and Metal Sonic were to be test subjects for their creator's latest scheme, where Mikan's hair was dyed again and Metal Sonic was given realistic fake skin. They both fell into peaceful slumbers and rested, Mikan in her luxurious bed and Metal Sonic in his green pod.

Until Eggman checked on Metal Sonic and stood in front of the robot, he began to think. "Sonic and his friends should have wished they didn't interfere with my plans. This realistic fake skin on Metal Sonic will be able to fool anyone he sees! I'd like to see one of those Sailors take him down!" A series of dark laughter filled the room after this long statement... similar laughs that would disrupt the atmosphere even in the world Eggman hoped to have: the Eggman Empire.

* * *

**_-Final Fortress-_**

This destroyed airship he sat on in a suburb canyon... it caused memories to flood back in his mind so quickly.

About a month ago, this aircraft was built by the genius hands of Professor Gerald's grandson, Dr. Eggman, however now because his arch nemesis had defeated him and every robot on it, it was nothing more than a heap of junk. Him who was sitting on it's edge now hadn't seemed to care though. This combination of scraps was where he and his two allies had fought together for the last time. After that epic journey, they each separated and went their own way.

... how or even why this idea was important to him, he didn't know.

"Shadow."

Quickly, this figure known as Shadow turned his eyes down to where he noticed the person calling him. He recognized them by their makeup and bat ears.

They ascended towards him and promptly sat beside Shadow with a friendly smile, letting their legs also dangle over the edge. "It's been a month now, hasn't it? How has life been treating you?" This bat asked Shadow.

"It's been fine. What brought you here?"

"The same thing that called you here." The bat took her eyes off Shadow and studied the object that were on. "This airship brings back so many memories. You, Omega, and I made a pretty good team back then."

This bat, otherwise known as Rouge... Shadow thought about the words she just said and took them to heart. He had to thank her and Omega for joining forces with him because if not, then he probably never would've learned the truth behind himself. He never would've realized that he was one of the Shadows duplicated from the original and that the person responsible for this was Eggman. So he respected them and owed them his gratitude.

"We did," Shadow replied to Rouge.

"You know what? That gives me an idea!"

Shadow became curious as he watched Rouge stand to her feet with her hands on her hips. How she looked so confident and upbeat interested him.

"Why don't we find Omega then go look for the others?"

Shadow gasped surprisingly.

"It's been a while since I saw any of them. Too long in fact. It's as if most of them just disappeared."

"Who do you mean?"

Rouge was startled by this remark. Normally, Shadow wouldn't care to know someone else's condition or whereabouts. But now it seemed the emotionless hedgehog was starting to grow on each of his friends.

Somewhat of a grateful smile graced Rouge's lips. "Well, since you're curious... I haven't seen Sonic, Amy, Fox Boy, or even the echidna anywhere."

"Hmmm..."

Shadow began to ponder on this situation. What Rouge said was pretty unusual. Routinely, Shadow would see either of these friends, but to never bump into them at all could only mean one thing.

"I'm sure my guess is as good as yours. They all went somewhere and didn't bother to tell us. I say we track down Omega and start our search in Station Square," Rouge stated honestly.

"Let's go then."

When Shadow rose to his feet, Rouge sensed his compliance and brought an arrogant grin to her face. "Awe yeah, baby! This makes us a team again!"

After giving Shadow what was known as a fist pump, Rouge and him leapt down from the Final Fortress and started for the first area they suspected their robotic ally to be.

* * *

**_-Mystic Ruins-_**

"Go for a walk?"

"Yeah." Artemis took a look at the sleeping Diana then placed his eyes back on Luna. "Diana's sleep so I thought we could go outside for a walk. The stars are really nice tonight."

Luna understood her friend's reasoning but still felt nervous about the idea. She couldn't remember the last time they were alone because they were always with the Sailor Scouts and now they had to raise their daughter.

"But if you don't want to go then we could go another day."

"No, no, it's alright. A walk sounds good."

Artemis smiled and began walking towards the front door with Luna.

The night's cool breeze was the first to welcome them to outside. Its scenery had been just as Artemis described; stars seemed to be poured out into the sky as there were so many, all so bright and lovely.

The Moon Cats made their way down the stairs then headed west, where they would walk along the edges of Mystic Ruins in a full circle.

Luna could only wonder what was on Artemis's mind. He was the one who invited her out here yet he hadn't parted his lips yet.

"What's on your mind, Artemis?"

The white feline sucked in a breath before answering. "A-actually, I was wondering what you might be thinking about."

"Oh." Luna felt her cheeks warm up," Well, a number of things really. Serena and the other girls, how they're all doing. Things are bound to be different now that you and I aren't there."

"Of course. But this is the sort of thing we've had to prepare for, right? I'm sure Mina and the others be alright without us this time."

Luna took Artemis's words into consideration. "You're right. I guess I was just a little worried. This is the first time we've been away from the girls for this long." The black cat's mind went to Diana. "Raising Diana is our duty now."

The conversation grew quiet as Luna and Artemis continued their this time, they were near the ladder that led a person to the train station leading back to Station Square. Talking about what was Luna's mind removed a weight from her the best part was that she could express her feelings with her-

Luna's cheeks flushed a faint red as she stopped herself from finishing this thought.

"Luna?" Artemis asked confusedly.

She cleared her throat in a nervous manner. "The picnic we planned tomorrow should be nice since Lita and Miss Vanilla will be making us some delicious snacks."

"They are, huh? I didn't know Miss Vanilla liked cooking. What type of food does she make?"

Desserts and pastries along the same lines as Lita. I'm sure they've already compared and shared their recipes."

"Then I'm sure the picnic will be great!" Artemis flashed a smile, "So Luna, are you enjoying this walk? I actually wanted to go boat riding if that was fine with you."

"Boat riding?" Luna asked curiously, "How will we do that?"

"Well, the only way we can."

A memory of a woman with black flowing hair and a ruffled yellow dress came to Luna's mind. "Artemis... you know we don't know how to live that way. Only our future selves know how to do that. I haven't the slightest idea on how to do that."

For some seconds, Artemis was silent. Then, as his eyes shined with gained confidence, he parted his lips. "I thought the same thing, but then a memory from the Silver Millenium awakened in me."

Luna watched Artemis stop his footsteps so she did the same. Then he pointed at his forehead with his paw.

"In our past lives, Queen Serenity adopted us into her family and placed these marks on out foreheads. She told us that it would be our signatures and our possessions that help us unlock a secret power."

"A secret power?"

Luna only received her answer as Artemis closed slowly his eyes and utter a distinct phrase.

"CRESCENT... MOON... POWER... TRANSFORM!"

Luna was left so speechless. Her partner was enveloped in a blanket of moons, stars, and light before her very eyes. He reappeared as the form Luna mentioned and stood with one hand on his hip.

"Artemis!"

The form, also known as Artemis's human body, was more than Luna imagined it to be.

"You look speechless," Artemis unintentionally made a handsome smile.

"I am... it's just hard to believe that we can actually become human too. I always imagined myself as a feline and a house cat." Luna thought back to that woman with the yellow dress. "So I can transform into my human self as well?"

"Yes! Just shout, "Crescent Moon Power Transform."

Luna smiled at Artemis as she felt hope and excitement. The cat was glad to know that she carried power just as well as the Sailor Scouts. There had a to be a reason why this particular memory came to Artemis.

After crying out the same phrase, Luna felt that same light engulf her too. It felt warm to her body and transfigured it into that of a female humanoid. That flowing back hair grew down past her waist while that yellow dress covered her fleshy, naked body.

Once Luna's transformation was complete, her dainty feet touched the ground and she stood before Artemis as his woman.

He could only stand there as her beauty mesmerized him. She was the same person but in a new and appealing creature. Her appearance was more than he imagined it to be as well.

The next thing Luna knew, she was in a boat while Artemis sat on its opposite end with the rows in each hand. They were steadily making their way across the river and sightseeing Mystic Ruin's splendid scenery.

As much as Luna was hesitant to admit it, Artemis had been right about suggesting they go for a walk. It was a refreshing and adventurous experience all at the same time and the night had only begun.

"I can see all of the stars from here." Luna looked up past the treetops at the sky then faced Artemis again, "Thank you, Artemis."

"Don't mention it."

Artemis and Luna reached the end of the river and stopped the boat beside land. Artemis resembled a gentleman as he gave Luna his hand and helped her step from out of the boat. They then walked alongside each other to try and return home.

While they walked, Luna couldn't take her mind off of the wonderful night they just shared. She looked at Artemis and felt closer to him now, but the reason was beyond her.

Artemis, believe it or not, felt the same way. It'd been his idea to go for walk and help her take her mind off everything, if only for one night, but the activity turned out to be more than he dreamed of. Luna as this new individual fascinated him.

Obviously Tails's front door was locked, and the Moon Cats couldn't squeeze through their usual door, so they stood in front of his house and faced each other.

"Thank you again, Artemis. I liked this walk very much."

"Your welcome, Luna." Artemis wore a gentle smile, "So you think you would like to do this again sometime?"

"Sure," Luna smiled back. "Artemis... w-what do you think? Of this body I mean?"

As if being asked to solve a tongue-twister, Artemis didn't know how to respond. He had the answer but not the courage to process and say it. So Luna stood there feeling anxious.

"... it's beautiful. I think it's how you would really look if you were born a human."

Artemis's words caressed Luna's heart. She felt it race and beat louder.

With a nervous tone, Artemis replied, "What do you think of my body?"

"I think your body is beautiful too."

Artemis blushed at this comment. No one had ever used the word, "Beautiful" for him before. It felt strange and kind at the same time.

"Artemis. When you look at me you say you see a beautiful woman, but do you see a beautiful mother?"

"A beautiful mother?" Artemis dwelled on this question then gazed into Luna's eyes. "Well why wouldn't I? I can't imagine less."

"Ever since I can remember, I've dedicated my life to helping the Sailor Scouts awaken their destinies and protect the Princess. I can't imagine myself kept away from that to raise a kitten."

Artemis sensed Luna's lack of confidence. "Luna. I know how you feel. When I first found Mina, she didn't seem like the Soldier of Venus that the Queen told us to track down. But over time, she realized her place and now she's reunited with the others. I can't tell you how proud I was to have been apart of that. But this... this responsibility we've been given for Diana... it means so much more."

Confusion and hope formed Luna's reaction as she stared at Artemis.

"I might not be making any sense right now, but if you weren't the beautiful mother, then neither of us would be here right now."

"You really mean that, Artemis?"

"From the bottom of my heart," Artemis gave another handsome smile.

Before he could say anything else, tears flew from Luna's eyes and she wrapped her arms around him, sobbing into his chest. He was caught off-guard and wondered what made her begin to cry. Just seconds ago, they were having a discussion and getting their points across.

"Luna..."

Luna sniffled and wiped her cheeks. "Forgive me, Artemis. It's just that your words touched me... I can rest assured that you'll always be there for me."

"Of course I will. I'll always be there for you, Luna."

Artemis gently placed a strand of Luna's glossy black hair behind her ear. Apparently she liked this gentleness, so she took lock of Artemis's hair and examined it. It looked so white like winter snow.

"He'll always be there for you, Luna." This assurance softly rang through her ears again and again, even as Artemis took Luna into his arms and the couple looked into each other. He wasn't sure what came over him, but it hadn't mattered.

Luna went with the flow as they moved their faces towards each other and pressed their lips together. This act of affection that humans used was now being shown through them. This act that would express how the Moon Cats felt for each other.

They were in love.

* * *

**_-Hang Castle-_**

Ever since the tragic death of Queen Nehelenia, Hang Castle carried a darker air to it. The ghosts and troubled spirits who hung around this place weren't seen anymore since Galaxia and her soldiers had taken over.

Inside Hang Castle's throne room, Sailor Buttress appeared before her master on one knee then looked up and started speaking. "Master Galaxia. What is it that you wish of me?"

"It seems that our soldiers I sent have not done what I asked. I need you to find out where they are and keep a close eye on them." Galaxia's heartless tone never wavered. "Kill them if you see that they fail again."

"Yes, Master Galaxia." Sailor Buttress stood to her feet then teleported out of the room.

* * *

**_-Star Garden-_**

This third area that belonged to Galaxia, the Star Garden, was located in a totally different dimension just as her lair. Unusually, its skies didn't have a sun or moon and kept a pink shade, though it was a place of extravagant beauty.

In every direction, one could see precious crystals floating around the area, sparkling clear rivers flowing down from a water fountain that was sculptured into the beautiful Galaxia herself, and Galaxia's cathedral.

There were occasions where the Chaos-infested Sailor Soldier visited this serene garden, but there were three specific members of the Shadow Galactica who'd been assigned to be the Star Gardeners. Their names were Sailor Phi, Sailor Chi, and Sailor Theta.

The way that Star Garden was tended to was quite simple. When Galaxia's soldiers collected the necessary Star Seeds, they were given to one of Galaxia's Star Gardeners. Star Seeds are actually crystals that contain actual seeds inside of them. For example, Sailor Chi would take the seed out of the Star Seed and plant it in the ground like a regular plant. Then she and her partners would watch the seed sprout... and blossom... and flourish, until that seed grew into a crystal.

Planting each seed would take about 2 weeks time, however Shadow Galatica planted an immense amount of them since they'd stolen Star Seeds from other planets besides Earth. 3 Star Gardeners was enough to get this job done, and when enough seeds were grown, Galaxia would tell her servants this: "We have more than enough Garden Crystals to bring forth and scatter along the Earth. Once the Earth reaches Spring, then all of the Garden Crystals will bloom and drain its energy."

And so until time passed up to this point, the Star Gardeners farmed and cultivated the Star Garden as Galaxia wished.


	23. Chapter 23

_**-Crossroads City-**_

As the night had been pleasant, that following morning was just as splendid. The citizens of Crossroads City slept peacefully and now woke up feeling so refreshed.

Mina yawned as she sat up in her bed and stretched her arms. This blonde had slept like a log, dreaming the usual girlish fantasies that young girls dreamed, but nonetheless she dreamed.

Waking up by herself felt different. Artemis was no longer here to tell her good morning or nag her about sleeping in on school days. Or tell her good night and enjoy casual pastimes with her like playing checkers and watching their favorite TV sitcoms. She missed that serious furball.

The morning in Lita's house differed drastically from Mina's. Since she didn't occupy her apartment by herself anyway.

As the brunette woke up, the sweet Vanilla knocked on her door then was welcomed in.

"Oh. Morning, Miss Vanilla," Lita spoke with a bit of embarrassment as her hair was messy from sleeping on it.

"Good morning, dear." Vanilla approached Lita's curtains and opened them to allow more light into the room. "How are you?"

"I'm alright. Are Cream and Cheese still sleeping?"

Before Vanilla could answer, the mother heard her daughter's voice and turned around to find her coming towards them while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Cheese floated behind her and was also rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning, Mother. Good morning, Lita."

"Good morning, sweetie."

"Morning, Cream and Cheese."

* * *

_**-Angel Island-**_

This morning had only begun, but Knuckles still wanted answers.

He didn't understand it... this situation with Sonic and the others. It'd all began as Knuckles and him got into a heated duel and destroyed the Hikawa Shrine's Torii gate in the process. Rei sent them into unconsciousness then told them they had to work as Shinto Trainees to pay for the damages.

After some time, Knuckles felt the distance growing between him and the Master Emerald. So as important as it was to keep this special treasure guarded, he ran away from his Shinto Trainee duties and retreated back to what mattered most. Ever since that night, Sonic kept his end of the deal and did whatever task was assigned to him.

Amy and Tails realized that their blue friend had been away from their home for too long, so Amy stomped over to Knuckles to ask where he ventured off to, the echidna gladly giving an explanation. Shortly afterwards, both Amy and Tails followed after Sonic to their given destination, which led them to locating him but joining the Hikawa Shrine as Shinto Trainees themselves.

Ever since that day, Sonic kept his word and continued to do whatever chore he was given, with the addition of more friends helping him. How had things came to this?

As Knuckles stared up at the empty blue skies without any distractions, an interruption came and made him grumble when he looked up to see his rival standing in front of him. "What do you want?"

Rouge flashed a seductive smile. "Is that any way to treat a lady? Shadow and I just wanted to drop by and say hello."

Knuckles stood up and looked around for the Ultimate Life Form who was just mentioned. They appeared beside Rouge with their arms crossed.

"Hey, Shadow. It's been a while. What have you been up to these days?"

"Not much."

Rouge glanced at Shadow then turned back to Knuckles. "We're finding Omega so we can go to Station Square and start looking for Sonic and the gang."

"They're not in Station Square."

Shadow arched his eyebrow and turned to the Master Emerald Guardian to have more clarity.

"Amy and Tails followed Sonic into this town southeast of Station Square."

"Why would they do that?" asked Rouge worriedly.

Knuckles sighed, but he had to explain the reason for their whereabouts. So within minutes, he narrated and gave the details, watching shocked reactions form on his friends's faces.

"A shrine? Well why aren't you down there helping them?" asked Rouge.

"You already know the answer to that. I've got bigger responsibilities to worry about. I'm not that naive to leave the Master Emerald unguarded so you can take it."

"Instead of you two arguing like an old married, couple, we could be discussing how we'll go about finding Sonic and the others."

The arguement brewing between Knuckles and Rouge drew to a close as they both turned their heads and stared at Shadow... stunned by his statement.

"Married?" Knuckles wore a disgusted expression, "That's the last thing on my mind! Why would anyone want to marry a self-centered, conniving bat-girl like Rouge?"

A vein appeared on Rouge's head as these words infuriated her. "Oh yeah? Well I wouldn't want to marry a thick-headed pea-brain who can't treat women right!"

Shadow found himself only sighing a sigh of regret while his friends barked at each other's faces. No time soon would they head towards Crossroads City...

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

"I gotta hand it to ya', Chad. These rice cakes you helped Rei make look really good!" Sonic smiled as he stood beside Chad in front of the kitchen counter.

"Yeah? Thanks." Chad bit into his rice-cake. "So, Sonic... um... about that night I tried to attack you and everything..."

"No worries," Sonic smiled up at Chad, "I know you were only trying to look out for Rei. M-maybe a ring wasn't the best way to show my thanks," Sonic cheeks turned red.

"Yeah, but you didn't know. You were just trying to be nice," Chad scratched the back of his head, then cleared his throat, "S-so, where is Rei anyway?"

"Didn't she tell you? She's already at the Mystic Ruins helping the others set up the picnic. Me and you are supposed to meet her there with these rice-cakes."

"Oh." Chad looked down at his rice-cake then shoved the rest of it in his mouth.

* * *

_**-Mystic Ruins-**_

As Sonic had described, Rei and the girls were in the Mystic Ruins setting up their delightful picnic. Darien would have accompanied them but today was his shift at the Crown Game Arcade. So anyhow, the girls hadn't fully decided where to hold this event; Serena thought it would be best if they all sat by waterfall, while Rei felt they should stay close to Tails's house. Their friends didn't care to agree or disagree with either of these ideas; they only wanted to pick a spot and do so quickly so they could be ready when the others arrived.

"You guys, it doesn't matter where we have the picnic. Lita, Sonic, and Chad will be here soon so let's just pick either or," Mina pleaded.

"Mina is right," Luna added her opinion, "The sooner we choose a spot, the sooner we can lay out our blanket and be ready."

Because someone else backed up Mina's statement, Sonic Moon ended up laying their picnic blanket under a tree where they would be able to relax under its cool shade. The Moon Cats laid on top of the picnic blanket once it was set down and Diana got to crawl along it with everyone enchanted by her cuteness.

"She's growing up so fast," Ami smiled sweetly, "Before we know it she'll be walking like her parents."

"I'm so happy that I get to have my own kitty," said Rini who knelt down beside Diana and took her into her arms. She and Diana looked at each other until Diana smiled back and licked Rini on her nose. Everyone laughed at this and watched Rini return the baby to her parents. It could already be told that Rini and Diana would have a strong friendship.

Tails looked over at the waterfall that lay some feet away from the picnic. A faint rainbow streaked over it and helped him realize that today was the perfect day for a picnic. Sonic Moon needed not only a break from crime-fighting, but a chance to break bread together and grow closer with one another. That's what it was all about.

As a way to pass the time, Ami looked down at her watch and looked for the time. "The Station Square Train runs every twenty minutes. So that means Sonic, Chad, and Lita should be here pretty soon."

"Only if Sonic doesn't decide to come here on foot," Amy aroused this possibility, "He doesn't like anything that slows him down."

"But he would not think to leave Chad behind, would he, Amy?" asked Omochao.

"No, Sonic wouldn't do that," Tails assured Omochao. "Ami, do you know what kind of foods Lita and Cream's mom are bringing?"

"I believe they made some sandwiches and pies."

"Pies? Oh, that sounds so good right about now!" Serena's mouth watered.

"Well just make sure to save some for us, Meat Ball Head."

"Rei, I told you not to call me that!"

"Hello, everyone!"

At the sound of this sweet greeting, everyone looked left and saw Michelle with Amara and Trista approaching them. Their arrivals surprised them as well as the items they were holding.

"Amara! Michelle! Trista! You guys brought extra food," exclaimed Serena.

"Yeah, we figured it was the least we could since you were all nice enough to invite us," Amara replied as she was the one holding fresh watermelon in both of her arms.

Michelle could be seen carrying bags of plastic plates, forks, napkins, and potato chips while Trista had more chips, plastic cups, water, juice, and soda. They and Amara set down these things down on the picnic blanket and greeted everyone accordingly, saving Diana for last.

"Hello there, Diana." Michelle held the kitten and rubbed her nose against hers. "You are just the cutest little kitty I've ever seen."

Diana meowed at Michelle and smiled back, feeling Amara pet her little head.

"This is Luna and Artemis's daughter alright," Amara stated coolly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Artemis blushed.

Amara gave a short chuckle. "Don't take it the wrong way. I just mean she has parts in her that are from both of you."

"Oh."

Trista soon let herself into the conversation. "On our way here, we bumped into Sonic and Chad."

"What?" Amy gasped in shock, "Well why aren't they here yet?"

"Because they told us they were going to buy a few more things for this picnic," explained Michelle.

"But Lita and Vanilla are bringing sandwiches and pies," Rei pointed out, "Just what else could Chad and Sonic plan on bringing besides the rice-cakes?

* * *

It wasn't where robots were usually found, but E-123 Omega resided in the Mystic Ruins and his friends remembered that. He'd ventured to this land after their adventure together on the Final Fortress and began a new life. A new chapter where he befriended the Flickies and helped take care of their exotic home. In due time, believe it or not, the robot actually grew to like it.

"We should be approaching Omega any second now..." Rouge held a tracking device and walked through the Mystic Ruins with it. It kept beeping as it was telling her and Shadow where to find this particular robot. According to its coordinates, they would have to keep going straight.

Shadow pushed another leaf out of their way so they could walk through. "There he is."

There, off in the far distance, stood the robot who betrayed his creator and joined Shadow and Rouge's alliance, Team Dark.

A blue Flicky could be seen perched on one of Omega's fingers but it flew away as it sensed Rouge and Shadow's presences. Omega had the intention of activating his combat system, but he kept his guard down when he discovered who was approaching him.

"Combat systems deactivated. Detected outsiders are not a threat."

A tiny smile came to Rouge's lips as she parted them. "Omega, long time no see!"

Omega glanced at Shadow who he hadn't expected to give much of a salutation.

"Hey, Omega."

"Greetings, Shadow, and Rouge. What brings you two here?"

"We're on a quest to find Sonic and the others. Care to join us?" Rouge asked Omega.

"Where did they go?"

"Crossroads City, from what we were told."

"That is the city that you take the Station Square Train to reach, correct?"

"Yeah... how did you know that?"

"I am familiar with all of the cities around here."

"Then great. So, are you coming with us?"

"Affirmative." Omega gave his farewell to the Flickies then departed from the area with his old comrades. Team Dark was once more, and there was no stopping them.

"Sonic!"

This exclamation from Amy made everyone look up; they also discovered Sonic and Chad making their way towards them with the rice-cakes... and bags filled with other things. Sonic carried meat, bread, and condiments while Chad held a box that contained parts to a bar-b-Que pit.

"And Lita!" Serena exclaimed when she noticed Lita and the Rabbit Family behind Sonic and Chad. They themselves were carrying the very same items Ami mentioned, containers full of delectable pies and sandwiches.

"Sonic!" Amy ran up to the hedgehog even if his hands were full and embraced him. "Thank you for buying more food for the picnic!"

"Amy, I'm trying to take these bags over to the picnic blanket!"

After all of the new items and food were set down, those who delivered them said hello to everyone and were thanked for their gracious efforts.

"I figured hamburgers and hotdogs would be good for something like this. Chili dogs are my favorite food after all!" Sonic told everyone.

"Really?" replied a curious Mina, "I never would've guessed that chili dogs were your favorite food."

"Yep. What about you?"

"Curry and ramen noodles."

"Cool!"

Within just a few minutes, Sonic Moon began to take out their food and drinks to let their picnic finally begin. Though to their surprise, a pair of three eyes spied on them from far away and by their expressions, they did not expect what they were witnessing.

"Is that Fox Boy? And Amy? It is them! And they've decided to have a picnic without us? How rude!"

"There are unknown life forms who I do not have data of," Omega referred to Serena and the other humans. "One robot in the vicinity. Omochao."

Shadow didn't have anything to say on this matter even when he had the opportunity. His eyes had become fixated on a particular human from the group. The one with blue eyes and those long blonde pigtails. Something about her brought him restoration and peace.

"Well I'm not worried about who the humans are." Without hesitating, Rouge started towards the picnic without her friends' consents.

"Rouge. Wait!" Omega chased after the bat.

Shadow silently followed after them.

Taking out the materials for the bar-b-Que pit was the easiest part, but Chad grew confused when having to figure out to put them together. He looked at the instruction booklet but only to become even more puzzled.

"Need some help?"

The Shinto Trainee looked up and found Amara standing over him with a friendly smile. Even if he had learned that this tomboy wasn't a male, he was still getting used to that fact. Something about Amara's behavior and attitude just made her come off that way.

"Yeah, if it's not too much."

"No, not at all." Amara took the instruction booklet from Chad and had a look at it for herself. In nothing but five minutes, she assembled the bar-b-Que and told Chad to get the charcoal that came with it.

From behind them, Tails saw Amara's accomplishment and was intrigued. "Looks like you're already getting the hang of putting that bar-b-Que together, huh Amara?"

"Yeah. It's nothing. Ya' know, kid, I heard that you know how to build things even more complex than this."

Tails grew a bit embarrassed as someone was complimenting him like this. "Well, it's nothing too complex for even you to understand, I'm sure. I just make devices and machines. Like the plane I built for Sonic. I call it the "X-Tornado."

"The X- Tornado, huh? Sounds like I'll have to check that out sometime."

Tails smiled at the idea of this possible hangout. Before he could respond to it though, a familiar voice rang through his ears. "Rouge! Shadow! Omega!"

All eyes were on Team Dark as they let themselves in to this picnic event. Sonic and the other furries were overwhelmed but glad to see these friends again.

"Shadow! Rouge! Omega!" Amy ran up to them with the others behind her. "What are you three doing here?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you, Pinky," Rouge gave a stern expression. "You, Fox Boy, and Sonic all went missing and we had no idea where to find you. Luckily, Knuckles told us."

After explaining the details of her conversation with Knuckles, Sonic felt it necessary to give an apology. "Yeah, that's why we ended up here. Heh heh. Sorry for not saying anything."

"It's okay, Big Blue," Rouge flashed an eye wink, "We forgive you. So what's get-together all about?"

"Our other friends wanted to do something special for us. Come on, let me introduce you guys to them."

Sonic was excited to formally introducing Team Dark to the Sailor Scouts. They seemed to all like each other and were curious about each other's backgrounds. The interest in Rouge for example...

"Rouge the Bat? That's a pretty name," Serena complimented her. "What do you like to do for fun?"

"Oh, I'm a jewel thief. I steal priceless gems," Rouge bragged.

"Oh..." Serena laughed with nervousness, "Well okay... what about you, Shadow? A-are you a jewel thief too?"

"... no. That kind of work is pointless to me."

"Pointless? I think I take as an insult!" Rouge folded her arms.

Shadow gave a small chuckle. "Take it however you want, Rouge. Sonic's friend here asked me a question and I answered it."

"Whatever."

Serena and her friends giggled at this conversation between the bat and hedgehog. So far, they liked them and were eager to learn more, but there was still the Ultimate E-123 Series Robot to become acquainted with.

"I am Omega, the Ultimate E-Series Robot!"

"Well hello, Omega. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Michelle and these are my friends, Amara and Trista."

Omega extended his arm to give his new acquaintances handshakes. "Greetings, Amara and Trista."

Since Shadow and Rouge had already said hi to the Moon Cats, Omega sat in front of them to give a greeting.

"I am Omega, the Ultimate E-Series Robot!"

"It's nice to meet you, Omega. I'm Artemis, this is Luna, and our daughter, Diana."

...

...

"It is not ordinary that you have the ability to speak like humans. How is that possible?"

"W-well, it's because we aren't from this planet. We are Moon Cats."

"Alien life forms." Omega identified the yellow marks on each of their heads. "I see. So you are superior to this planet's race?"

"Technically, yes. But we're sent to this planet and made it our home, so we've easily adapted to it," Luna explained to Omega.

"Omega, sorry to interrupt your chat, but you're needed over by this bar-b-Que pit. I told our friends you could help get the fire started," interjected Rouge.

"Very well." Omega stood to his feet. "Artemis and Luna. It was a pleasure to have met you and your daughter, Diana."

The Moon Cats nodded and watched Omega make his way to the area he was called to.

Chad, Amara, Shadow, Lita, Sonic, and Tails all waited for Omega's arrival and watched the E-Series robot raise his claws to transform them into flamethrowers. He was told to aim it at the black rocks known as charcoal.

"FLAME CANNON!"

Embers spewed from Omega's flamethrowers and when shot onto the charcoal, lit the bar-b-Que up so nicely.

"Impressive, Omega!" Lita said to the robot, "I might have to ask you to help me when I'm in the kitchen sometimes."

"Thank you, Lita. This proves my power!"

With the bar-b-Que started, Lita began slabbing hamburgers and hot dogs onto it. She hadn't needed any assistance as she was a great cook though she noticed Shadow and called the hedgehog over to her. "Do you wanna help me with these hot dogs, Shadow?"

He saw her trying to hand the pitch fork to him. When he looked up at her eyes, they showed kindness and assurance that she only wanted him to try something fun and new. She didn't mean any harm by it. So in the end, he took the pitch fork and turned the hot dogs over. So far so good.

"Trista. Could you come walk with me for a minute?" Serena asked the older woman who was standing by Rouge and Vanilla.

"Sure." Trista let her acquaintances know that she was wanted for a small walk and so they bid her farewell. Then she approached Serena and they started pacing alongside the waterfall.

"Serena, what did you need to talk to me about?"

Before answering Trista's question, Serena thought back to Darien. She was happy that he encouraged her to approach Trista like this. Surely everything would work out in the end.

"Well... we all know that Rei and the others will be leaving to Angel Island to go train soon. In Rei's vision, I wasn't with them, so I was just wondering if you could tell me how I could help them while they're away."

Serena felt tense as she didn't receive an answer right away. This question she asked was one that Trista wasn't allowed to answer to openly. She'd known that.

Trista made a silent sigh and turned to Serena as they walked. "This is what everyone loves about you, Serena. You'll never turn your back on your friends. You're always there to defend. The one on who we can depend. When you learned that you couldn't accompany your guardians on this trip, I didn't expect less of a reaction than the one you have now."

Serena felt stunned by all of these statements Trista was making, but she stayed hushed as the Space-Time Guardian wasn't finished.

"My duties as the Keeper of the Space-Time Door forbids me from revealing the future to you, but I can tell you this: Rini can't do this by herself."

These words of Trista's weren't easy for Rini's future-mother to grasp. She hoped for clarification but knew it was impossible. So she thanked Trista for everything she had said and was still grateful.

"Thanks, Trista. I'll try to remember those words."

"Your welcome, Princess."

By the time Trista and Serena returned to the picnic, their friends had everything prepared and spread out. Vanilla, Cream, and Mina served food and drinks to everyone while Lita and Shadow managed the hamburgers and hot dogs.

"Two chili dogs with extra chili, please!" Sonic raised up two fingers.

Mina walked up to Sonic and smiled as she handed him these chili dogs. "There you go, Chili Boy! So when will I get to have my curry with extra ramen noodles?"

"Huh?"

"I'm just kidding!" Mina giggled sweetly.

Lita and Vanilla's vanilla bean pie was absolutely scrumptious, if Tails could say so himself. He took the first bite and already felt as if he'd entered pie heaven.

"Lita! This vanilla bean pie is die for!" Amy added her input. "Did Cream's mother teach you this recipe?"

"Well, I was already kind of familiar with it before we met, but now I've learned an extra secret or two about it."

"I'm glad you all enjoy our pie," Vanilla smiled sweetly. "Soon Lita will be an excellent pastry chef herself. We were considering opening up a bakery after she graduates from high school."

"Really?" Sonic asked after swallowing his food. "Yeah, go for it! Both of you are awesome with making sweets!"

"Well, Lita has always been good at making desserts, ever since I first met her, huh Lita?" Serena appeared beside this brunette even if she was in the middle of cooking burgers.

"Y-yeah, that's right."

In the mood for a chili dog herself, Rouge walked up to Shadow with a hot dog bun already on her plate. "One chili dog, please."

Shadow promptly took a hot dog from the grill and set it inside Rouge's hot dog bun. As this was taking place, there was one idea she couldn't help but mention.

"Who would've thought that the Ultimate Life Form would be a cook? I just never saw that happening."

"Hmph. Instead of making jokes, you'd best run along with your hot dog or I'll turn it back into an empty bun."

Rouge turned and left as she was told, but laughed at the antic she just tried to pull. She and Shadow were what one would call best friends, but over that time, they'd also grown close to be like siblings. Sometimes she teased, or vice versa. There was no changing it.

For the rest of the picnic, as the bar-b-Que was still being used, as drinks were still poured and chips were still grabbed, everyone enjoyed themselves. Conversing with one another while breaking bread together made the day into a splendid and most joyous one. It all went back to what Sonic thought about before when he formed his alliance with the Sailor Scouts... he was glad that he met them and happy that he befriended them.

* * *

_**-Crossroads City- **_

It'd taken some time, but Chuuko was finally let out of the hospital and joined Nyanko and Reiko at a cafe down the street. They told her about their plan to finally take care of the Sailor Scouts and she agreed to it. It was one that would have to be done precisely and not disrupted for any reason whatsoever. Galaxia had a patience that wore thin and she wouldn't keep putting up with their failures, so the line had to be drawn somewhere.

Just as Reiko had began to ask if she could purchase a coffee, a loud explosion was heard from outside. Heads turned to the sound of it. Civilians panicked and hurried out of the cafe to retreat where it was safe.

Not sure of how this destruction could have occurred, the Sailor Animamates had hurried outside and found the least of their expectancies standing in front of the building that was destroyed.

"No way!" Nyanko had taken a good look at the individuals she and her comrades were facing. One was... Sailor Moon in her civilian form. While the other was that blue animal.

"What?" Chuuko had shared the same shocked reaction. She couldn't believe what she was seeing either. Those pigtails and those blue ears were unmistakeable.

Reiko had given a overly dramatic gasp and added, "It's Sailor Moon and that hedgehog! Why are they destroying the city? Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"

Nyanko couldn't wait for answers. She'd started interrogating this unusual duo. "Hey! The last time I checked, you two were the heroes! Not that I care, but why're you destroying your own city?"

The female known as Sailor Moon had sent Nyanko a creepy smirk that she wished she never would've seen. Meanwhile, the hedgehog looked over at Chuuko and put a hand to his hip.

"Maybe we're tired of being the good guys!" Sailor Moon replied with a voice unlike her own, "Just let us finish what we're doing and no one gets hurt!"

Nyanko hadn't liked this attitude she was receiving, so she reached for her Crystal Change Rod. "Oh yeah? We'll see who gets hurt! TIN, CAT, METAMORPHOSIS!"

Chuuko and Reiko had followed suit and pulled out their wands. Reiko's wand of course resembled the others' except hers was white and the top was inscribed with a mermaid.

"IRON, MOUSE, METAMORPHOSIS!"

"ALUMINUM, SIREN, METAMORPHOSIS!"

Iron Mouse and Tin Nyanko shared similar transformations, but Aluminum Siren's was different. First, she would dive into a pool of water and swim to its bottom. Spirits of dead mermaids swam around her and gave her their powers, causing her to reappear in her Sailor Soldier uniform and give a seductive pose where she'd flipped her gorgeous hair.

Together, all of the Sailor Animamates looked fierce and beautiful in the most darkest, villainous way possible. But did their opponents care?

"Big deal!" Sailor Moon thought as she'd looked at them. "So you gave yourselves a makeover. So what."

Each of the Sailor Animamates grew red in the face and were definitely flabbergasted at this remark. They'd been ordered to steal Sailor Moon's Sailor Crystal but now they would also make sure to put the scrawny brat in her grave.

"That does it! This is the end of you!" Tin Nyanko and the others prepared to send each of their attacks. Iron Mouse had went first with that same monstrous rat.

"GALACTICA CRUNCH!" This attack had dove straight for its targets, however Sailor Moon and Sonic evaded it.

"GALACTICA TSUNAMI!" Aluminum Siren had summoned her hair to grow and go towards her opponents. She managed to grab Sailor Moon by the neck though Sonic utilized Spin-Dash and cut her free.

"GALACTICA PUPPET!" Tin Nyanko wouldn't play nice anymore. She had sent this electrifying attack and was able to hit them, watching them both fall to the ground and lie there unconscious.

Their challengers cheered with victory and were glad to finally put an end to Sailor Moon. So why had it been then that seconds later, Sailor Moon rose back to her feet as well as that blue animal?

"No!" Tin Nyanko gasped in disbelief, "That attack was right on target!"

"Then I guess you still need some more practicing to do." By exchange of glances with her partner, Sailor Moon had watched him curl into a ball and speed towards their enemies like lightning. Even if they had covered themselves with their arms, the impact from the hedgehog's Homing Attack was still too powerful. Each of them were knocked down to the ground by this force and unfortunately sent into total unconsciousness.

"Well, that takes care of them." Sailor Moon flipped her hair, "Ally, let's finish the rest of our master's plans."

As able-bodied as Sonic was to do that task, both him and Sailor Moon had been halted by a team of G.U.N. Soldiers. All the sounds of these soldiers and helicopters filled the atmosphere, bringing more feelings of despair and disaster to the citizens of Crossroads City.

"We've got you surrounded! Stop where you and put your hands in the air or we'll shoot!"

As if they would take heed to that. Sonic had taken it upon himself to present a Fake Chaos Emerald and raise it above his head to transport them out of the vicinity. The G.U.N. Soldiers would've been successful in shooting them but their bullets missed as the transmission had occurred too quickly.

There was much more destruction that was supposed to take place, but what these mysterious figures did would be enough.

* * *

_**-Inside Station Square Train-**_

"That picnic was so wonderful! I can't wait until the next one!" Serena said with a delightful tone.

"But sadly, it will have to wait since Rei and the others are leaving soon," Vanilla reminded the blonde-haired girl.

"Yeah ... I still wish I could go with them, but Rei's visions are always crystal clear..."

The train taking everyone back to Crossroads City soon came to its stop and so Sonic Moon and Team Dark were let out to exit it. They made their way down the stairs and headed for the Train Station's entrance, pushed the doors opened, walked out through them, and simply continued on.

"So, this is the Crossroads City I heard about," Rouge spoke as if she'd been enlightened. "Is it usually this empty?"

"No..." Serena answered as she noticed the emptiness, "... it's never this empty."

Michelle sensed trouble as well and informed Amara. "The sea is getting stormy."

Trista mentally agreed with Michelle and turned to Serena. "I believe its best if we all hurried to our homes now. Something about this lack of civilians isn't-"

Before Trista could finish her sentence, G.U.N. Soldiers surrounded them.

"Sonic the Hedgehog! You and that girl with the pigtails are under arrest!"

While everyone became appalled and gasped, Sonic and Serena exchanged the most confusing of confused glances with each other then looked back at the G.U.N. Soldiers. Seriously?

"Under what grounds?"interrogated Amy.

"For terrorist attacks against this city. Come now, or else we'll be forced to use our weapons."

"Wait! This is nonsense!" Rouge stepped up to the G.U.N. Soldiers, "Don't you recognize me and your commander's other secret G.U.N. agents, Shadow and Omega? We've been with these two and have seen that they are in no way terrorists!"

"I recognize you three but this crisis doesn't concern you. Sonic! Come over here with the girl now!"

Sonic did take a step, but it was to stand in front of Serena and protect her. Neither him or the others would be that naïve to let her go. "We're innocent! You've got the wrong people!"

"Is that right? Then how come, according to this Suspect Composite Drawing given to us, we see exact replicas? According to eye witness news, Juuban High School was destroyed in the explosion that you two caused."

"No...!" Lita almost felt her heart stop. She couldn't believe what she was hearing right now. Out of all the places for those terrorists to destroy, they just so happened to choose her school that she had only one chance to go inside of... why?

Rouge snatched the drawing from the G.U.N. Soldier and examined it for herself. She was seeing...

RIP!

What Rouge saw wasn't visible for that much longer as she grew angry and tore it to pieces.

"You can't deny the truth, Miss Rouge." The G.U.N. Soldier recovered the ripped evidence from the ground and stood back up. "Now turn yourselves in."

Serena looked down at Sonic with fear beginning to develop in her eyes. Never in her life had she been accused of something like a terrorist attack. This had to be a nightmare that she could wake up from. "Sonic..."

The blue hero knew how Serena felt inside. This hadn't been the first time he was mistaken for being a criminal and deliberately arrested for it. That criminal now stood among them, not a bad guy anymore, but a hero. Where was the actual villain to this situation?

"We're not going to ask you again."

He knew how to get out of this one.

"Alright. Looks like we'll have to play nice."

"What?" Serena responded to Sonic. "You're saying we should turn ourselves in? Are you nuts?"

"Look, I've been framed for this same kind of thing before. I was just as shocked as you are right now. I know a way to get out of it."

"... I hope so." Serena took a final look back at everyone with the hopes that they would understand Sonic's logic and have faith in it. She would have to assure herself too.

"Sonic? No, why are you giving yourself up? You've been framed!" Lita yelled after the hedgehog. "This wasn't your fault! We can find a way out of this!"

Rini was on the verge of tears seeing Serena be taken away. Clenching her fists didn't help keep her anger bottled up. "Serena! You're just going to give up like this? You're not going to put up a fight? You... you... MEAT BALL HEAD!"

These words from Rini held so much volume and emotion that reached not just Serena's eardrums but the depths of her heart and soul. They could never be shaken off. Serena wanted to say something back but her heart made her keep looking forward.

Shadow would've been glad to take down these G.U.N. Soldiers if it meant saving their friends. But a fragment of him knew that in the end everything would be okay. The Blue Blur had gotten himself out of dozen situations, so he could do it again. Only the rest of their friends wouldn't be able to understand that.

A G.U.N. helicopter had been descending itself as they approached it, so Sonic and Serena were asked to step onto it. The door was closed before anyone realized it and therefore the helicopter motioned to ascend again.

"Why did she give in?" Mina felt like crying. What she didn't realize soon enough was that Shadow was in front of her.

"She didn't make that choice."

Mina and the others raised their eyebrow at these words.

"Sonic has a trick up his sleeve and that required them to go ahead and turn themselves in."

"What kind of plan?" Amara asked Shadow.

"... if I knew what it was, believe me when I say I would tell you."

* * *

_**-Egg Carrier-**_

Eggman's cackles filled the ship as he delighted in his latest victory. "At last, I've finally put an end to that pesky hedgehog and that girl! Now with them out of the way I can move onto the next part of my plan!"

This evil scientist could be seen sitting in his same chair aboard the Egg Carrier with a deck of cards in his hands. On each card was a different robot that he'd bult and saved for special occasions like this.

"Hmmmm..." Eggman put a hand to his chin, "Whoever I choose should be someone who can't taken down so easily." His eyes landed on E-66 Da-Dai-Oh and E-70 Noizi, but making the world his would require stronger hands. "I'll choose this one!"

As a toothy grin came to Eggman's voice, he picked the card with E-99 Eggsterminator, his most colossal and powerful E-Robot yet. Eggman slid this card into a random-selecting slot and watched the slots spin. In the end, each slot landed on pictures of Eggsterminator, activating the doors that would release him from his place in Eggman's secret military base. Eggsterminator flew from out of it like a rocket and headed towards its master.

"This is the end!" Eggman continued to cackle even with Decoe and Bocoe entering the room. "Decoe! Bocoe! Quickly, set these ships coordinates for the locations of the Chaos Emeralds! Track them all down and bring them to me!"

"Yes, Doctor Eggman."

While his lackeys began to type away for their creator's orders, Mikan and Metal Sonic stood on each sides of his chair as they too waited for his ultimate victory, gazing forward while he kept laughing. Soon they would all rule this world.

* * *

_**-Angel Island-**_

Knuckles caught himself from almost yelling at a nightmare he'd just woken up from. The echidna breathed in and out to calm himself down. For more than just coincidence, this nightmare involved his friends dealing with a crisis where Sonic and Serena were arrested for a crime they didn't commit.

"What was that just now?"

Before Knuckles pondered on this question for a second longer, he rushed down the Emerald Altar and to the edge of Angel Island to look down at the world below. It looked balanced, just as it always should. But his instincts kept insisting otherwise. Something wasn't balanced and he couldn't think of what it was.

"What's going on down there?"

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

With Sonic Moon's leaders taken into custody, its other members felt no choice but to retreat to Hikawa Shrine and think of what to do until they returned, standing in the same circle like before. Team Dark stated that they didn't mind residing with Sonic Moon until things settled down, and besides that, they learned about how Eggman chose to defeat them, so they were recruited into Sonic Moon.

Tails and Omochao handed out communicators to all of their anthropomorphics friends and explained to them how they could contact the Sailor Scouts now.

"This isn't right."

Everyone turned their eyes to Rei when she said this.

"How does Sonic expect us to just stand here and do nothing? Instead of standing around, we could be heading to G.U.N.'s base to rescue them!"

"Sonic understands how upset and concerned you are. But we have to believe in him," Shadow explained to the priestess, "The last thing he would want is for us to go there ourselves and risk being taken down."

"Shadow's right. I'm sure him and Serena will think of something." Michelle walked up to Rei and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "The sea has calmed down since then."

Rei looked back up at her green-haired friend and decided to trust her.

"Until then, shouldn't the Sailor Scouts be preparing to leave for Angel Island? And who is going to tell Darien and Serena's parents why she won't be returning home yet?" Ami asked out loud.

"Tell me and Serena's parents what?"

Everyone's hairs jumped on their backs as this person Ami just mentioned came into view. They exchanged looks with each other as a way to decide who would break the shocking news to him.

"We'll tell them," Amara volunteered Michelle and herself.

"Tell us what? What's going on?" Darien looked around at everyone. "Where are Serena and Sonic?"

Michelle laid her head on Amara's shoulder as she couldn't push herself to answer Darien's question. Amara balled up her fist as a means to quench her anger over the situation, but they couldn't hold it in forever.

"Well isn't this just great!" Nyanko complained as she, Chuuko, and Reiko walked down the street. "We had that little brat in the palm of our hands but her pet helps her get away! If we don't stop her soon, then Master Galaxia will replace us!"

"Don't remind us, Nyanko..." Chuuko said with a hopeless tone, "I just wish the answer to our problems showed up right now."

Reiko felt the same way and gave a dramatic sigh. Then suddenly, her eyes widened as she noticed the most peculiar thing in the sky. "Nyanko! Chuuko! Look up there!"

"What is it, Reiko? Another blimp or airplane? We've seen dozens of those today," Nyanko replied irritably.

"No, no, it's nothing at all like a blimp or airplane! Please, just trust me and look up!"

Nyanko forced herself to trust Reiko's words. And as Reiko had announced, a most peculiar object was making its way through the sky. "What is that thing?"

"It looks like someone carrying a box." When Chuuko followed this figure with her eyes, an interesting thought came to mind. "Nyanko! I say we follow that thing! It looks like it's heading towards that shrine!"

Even with hesitance, Nyanko chased after Chuuko and Reiko. They had nothing to lose so following this robot was promising.

"Delivery for Sonic's friends!" Bokkun hovered down to Hikawa Shrine grounds and landed on his feet.

"Bokkun!" Tails exclaimed," What are you doing here?"

"Hmph." Rouge crossed her arms as she noticed Bokkun. Any message this child had to bring was never good. "What message does Eggman want you to deliver this time?"

"Hey, you don't have to be mean about it, ya' know." As Bokkun set his T.V. down and started turning it on, he almost failed to notice Darien and realized they'd never seen each other before. Darien didn't know what to make of Bokkun's appearance.

"That's right, you've never met me before, have you?" Bokkun piped curiously, "... you don't have to stare at me like that!"

Darien somehow acknowledged these words and stepped away from Bokkun.

"Enough foolishness! Turn on the T.V. so we can see what the Doctor has to say," Shadow threatened the child.

"Alright, alright! Sheesh!" Bokkun hurried and did as Shadow said.

The T.V. screen first came on with static, but eventually the screen cleared up and showed Eggman with a cheesy grin plastered on his face... and a party going on in the background?

From what could be seen, Docoe revealed a party horn and blew into it, Bocoe threw rainbow confetti everywhere, Mikan was busy doing kareoke for this ship party, and Metal Sonic could be seen robot-dancing to her music.

Sonic Moon looked at all of this with the most disturbed, befuddled looks on their faces. Villains having parties shouldn't have ever been allowed; it just didn't look right.

Eggman put his face to the T.V. screen. "Muhahahaha! Guess what? I'm on my way to tracking down all of the Chaos Emeralds to power my most elite E-Robot, E-99 Eggsterminator. When I've placed all of them in him, I will enslave the Legendary Sailor Scouts and conquer the world! Think you can stop me? Muhahahahaha!"

The T.V. immediately shut off and so Bokkun's work was done. He looked at his creator's foes and was scared to stick around as they became upset. "U-uh... well, duty calls! Smell ya' later!"

"Bokkun!" Rouge called after the robot though became distracted when the T.V. started to beep.

"I will handle this!" Omega threw the T.V. into the air and blew it up with his machine guns.

When the explosion subsided and and was over, everyone rose to their feet and some began to panick.

"What? How does Eggman know about the Sailor Scouts?" Lita asked half angrily.

"I dunno, but it has me mad too! What does he wanna capture us for?" Serena agreed with Lita.

"There's no time to worry about that." Rei turned to Tails specifically. "Tails, how do we find these Chaos Emeralds before Eggman does?"

"We just have to get to them all before he does. We've went through this same problem with him hundreds of times."

"Tails is right," proclaimed Amy, "I say we split up into seven teams and track down all of the emeralds that way."

"That is a great idea, Amy," Omochao agreed, "But wouldn't we need seven radars to track down each one?"

"I'll take care of that, Omochao," said a confident Tails.

Darien finally let the weight off his chest. "I'll help you with that, Tails. Just tell me what to do."

Tails smiled up at Serena's boyfriend for his newfound courage. If she could see him right now, she would probably think lovingly, "My hero..."

After constant searching and calculating, Tails and Darien returned outside to explain the results to their friends.

"As it's always been, when the Chaos Emeralds are united then seperated again, they each get sent to a different zone. I used my radar to track down their Chaos Energies, so we'll send each team to their own zone," Tails explained as he stood before everyone. "Has everyone decided which team they're going to be on?"

Everyone nodded their heads with, "Yes."

"Okay. Then everyone meet me at my workshop in thirty minutes, and bring any vehicles if you have any."

* * *

_**-Inside G.U.N. Helicopter-**_

Just the sounds of the propellers from outside filled the atmosphere. The inside of the G.U.N. Helicopter had to be one of quietest places Serena had ever been inside of. Especially since she didn't belong in it.

Her eyes trailed over to the blue hedgehog who sat some feet away from her. He never returned the glance or said anything since they'd been put inside here. What could he say besides what she'd already heard?

"Sonic."

Serena finally received a look from the hedgehog and found hope to be in his eyes. This almost startled her except it was exactly what she wanted to see. Without saying another word, Serena got up from the wall she sat against and joined Sonic in the middle of the room.

"... what was your plan to get us out of here?"

"One that involves a little thing called skydiving."

Serena looked at Sonic confusedly but had her question answered as she watched him go for the door.

"What? Why won't this thing budge?" Sonic tried sliding the helicopter's door open with all of his might, but it seemed that G.U.N. remembered this stunt from before and made sure to prevent it. "Well, looks like that plan is out of the question."

Sonic faced Serena and returned to the floor beside her. He'd taken G.U.N. too lightly. "I'm sorry, Serena. Looks like this is gonna be a long ride."

"It's okay," Serena surprised the hedgehog with her weak smile, "I'm sure we'll think of something."

Seemingly, Serena's confidence was all Sonic needed to calm down. He smiled back at her with that smile that could cheer anyone up. As long as they both didn't panick over the situation, things would come together and work out for the best.

* * *

_**-Mystic Ruins-**_

"Just what was the plan again, Nyanko?"

"We're following these people and that Eggman to wherever these Chaos Emeralds are. After they gather all of them for us, we snatch them and take off. What is it about that plan that's so hard for you to comprehend, Reiko?"

Tin Nyanko, along with Aluminum Siren and Iron Mouse made their way off the Station Square Train and found Sonic Moon all together on the hill in front of Tails's workshop. They stayed far away and hidden from sight to watch what they would do next.

"Nyanko. If these Chaos Emeralds are as powerful as the Silver Crystal, then Master Galaxia will be very pleased!" Iron Mouse smiled mischievously, "We can't afford to let this chance slide!"

"Exactly, Chuuko."

The Sailor Animamates kept their eyes peeled as Tails looked around at his friends' cars. He noticed Amy's Pink Cabriolet, Rouge's race kart from their second Sonic Adventure, Amara's red convertible, and Darien's motorcycle.

"It looks like there will be enough vehicles to seat us."

"Affirmative," Omega complied with Tails, "I will join Rei, Ami, and Shadow in Rouge's car."

"I asked Cream's mother if she could housesit for me while we're away, so me, Mina, Trista, and Michelle will be with Amara in her car," Lita told her friends.

"Then that leaves Amy, Cream and Omochao with me in the X-Tornado. So Rini will be with Darien on his motorcycle?"

"Yeah," Darien answered Tails.

"Then it's settled!"

With everything addressed and decided, Sonic Moon accelerated towards the destination chosen by Tails, not knowing about the trio who was closely behind them.

The Moon Cats had of course been informed of this entire situation. Luna grew upset and stated that she would leave with them to help find the Chaos Emeralds, but instead was comforted and urged to stay home to keep Diana like she was supposed to. Everything would turn out fine. Sonic Moon wouldn't let the day go unsaved.

The Sailor Animamates were aware that they didn't have their own means of transportation, so they followed everyone's tire tracks.

* * *

_**-Green Hill-**_

In due time, the Egg Carrier reached Green Hill and landed on its open, green grass. Eggman commanded his lackeys to make sure that all the locations containing the Chaos Emeralds were infested with his Badniks and Egg Pawns.

"Make sure Sonic's friends don't get anywhere near the Chaos Emeralds!" Eggman ordered them.

With the X-Tornado as the leader, Tails parked it and let his comrades out. Meanwhile, his friends inside other vehicles stopped behind him and joined him in front of a palm tree.

"Well, this is it, guys. Does everyone remember their teams?"

"Yes!" Cream piped bravely with Cheese in agreement.

"We're ready." After Amara made this statement, she exchanged glances with all of the Sailor Scouts and in a single flash, they all transformed.

Mars looked down at her Eternal Sailor Soldier uniform and wondered about that vision she'd had. It specifically told her that she and the other Inner Soldiers would be away from home to train. Mercury's idea had been to do this on Angel Island, but they were here now having to find the Chaos Emeralds. What if this was the training?

Rouge wasn't sure if anyone heard her, but she muttered, "Just so we're all clear, the Chaos Emeralds will be mine after this is all over."

"Alright! Everyone, split up and go into the zone that was assigned to you! Meet back here when you've found a Chaos Emerald."

Everyone nodded to Tails's orders and left.

According to Tails and Darien's directions, each team went towards the locations they chose. Courage was put to test while hopes were fueled. Who would obtain all seven of the Chaos Emeralds? Eggman, Sonic Moon, or the Sailor Animamates? Just what would Sonic and Serena think of to escape G.U.N.'s clutches? Would Knuckles ever decide to come down from Angel Island and check on the others? No one had these answers, so it was as Sailor Pluto always said...

"Only time will tell."


	24. Chapter 24

_**-Spring Stadium Zone-**_

As was decided, Jupiter and Omochao ventured to Spring Stadium Zone, the region Sonic visited when saving his Flicky friends being turned into Badniks. The Sailor Scout and Chao Robot stood in awe of this zone's layout. It consisted of checkered green and blue tiles, red spring pads, and of course... Eggman's legion of Egg Pawns.

"Woah... what is this place?" asked Jupiter.

"Spring Stadium Zone."

Remembering their crisis at hand, Jupiter leapt down from the step she was on and approached a gate leading to this place. She promptly opened it and already was greeted by the Egg Pawns. "Looks like Eggman's sent his robots already."

"I can assist you." Omochao pulled out what was known as an Omochao Gun and loaded it before firing. "Let us take down these robots so we reach that ledge in front of us."

Jupiter became startled by Omochao's enthusiasm and looked over at his gun. "That gun looks like you! Where did you get it from?"

"No time to explain! We have company!"

Jupiter turned back towards the E-Robots and started charging for her attack. "JUPITER... OAK... EVOLUTION!"

Omochao added firepower by firing his Omochao Gun and watching the bullets bounce against their enemies. Whether they be knocked down or bashed against each other, the battle resulted in explosions and so Jupiter could advance once the smoke cleared.

"Alright! Let's keep moving."

"Yes, let's!" Omochao stayed close beside the Thunder Soldier when they reached a spring pad. "Lita, be careful when stepping onto a spring pad. If done incorrectly, you could get hurt by accidentally landing on a spike pit."

Omochao's companion looked around at the cautious dangers he mentioned and sucked a breath in. They appeared to be retractable spike pits as they came up and went down systematically.

With every ounce of grace, she put her foot on the spring pad and felt herself bounce high into the air. Omochao watched and guided this Sailor Scout past spring pads until they reached a flat surface again and were faced with another set of enemies.

"SPARKLING... WIDE... PRESSURE!"

"What?" From one of the many video cameras Eggman had on Sonic Moon's fighting through each zone, he noticed the screen with Jupiter and was blown away by her success. The villain grinned instead of growling and pressed a red button on his desk.

Jupiter and Omochao could feel that Chaos Emerald already being in their grasp. They rushed forward in victory as another gate lay some few feet in front of them.

Omochao laughed as his propellers turned and cheered, "We did it! I am sure the Chaos Emerald is behind that gate up ahead!"

Jupiter hoped so. She and her smaller ally dashed towards their finish line so to speak, however just before approaching the final gate, something knocked them back and landed in front of them with an enormous hammer.

"What the-?" Jupiter picked herself up and discovered this something to be a giant robot with red spikes on their shoulders.

"Oh no!" Omochao panicked, "This is the robot, E-1006 Egg Hammer. It attacks by slamming its hammer down or swinging it in full 360 degree circles."

"How do we defeat it?"

"Send your attack after it swings its hammer and loses its balance."

Jupiter turned to face Egg Hammer and waited for the machine to make its move. It first tried slamming its weapon down on her just as Omochao said, so when it spun around and missed her, she threw a ball of electricity at it.

...

...

"... no way!"

What was meant to electrocute Egg Hammer and make it explode into a million pieces only turned out as green sparks dancing around its body.

"That's not supposed to happen!" Omochao yelled out, "Lita!"

Before Jupiter could act, the Egg Hammer landed a hit on her and watched her fly dozens of feet away from the battle. She landed on a piece of tile that happened to exist inside a pool of spike pits.

Omochao hurried over to the injured heroine and examined her. "Lita, are you alright?"

As Omochao could plainly see, Jupiter's shoulder and the side of her face were both bruised. She rose to her feet and comforted her shoulder with her other hand.

"Yeah... I'm fine."

Jupiter's comrade wanted to believe this, but she could barely stand and couldn't keep her eye open. "No, you are not fine! You are in pain!"

Egg Hammer's footsteps snatched his foes' attention. Spike pits wouldn't damage its metallic feet, so it began towards them with its hammer raised high.

Omochao gasped while Jupiter stood there fighting against the pain. Her legs wanted to wobble but her spirit desired to keep fighting and find a way to take down this robot.

Second by second, Egg Hammer was closer to them until it stepped onto the spike pits and prepared to bring his hammer down. It felt a bullet from the Omochao Gun and kept walking.

With just one arm, Jupiter summoned a ball of thunder and threw it at Egg Hammer just to see it fail and watch that hammer come down.

"Take this!"

From out of nowhere, a green figure lunged at Egg Hammer and sent him to the ground with his fist. Jupiter looked in front of her and saw an anthropomorphic crocodile facing Egg Hammer with his fists balled up. Their appearance surprised her and she wondered if they knew Sonic.

"Vector!"

This crocodile known as Vector turned around and his eyes bulged when he saw Omochao. "Omochao? What're you doin' out here? And who's the broad with you?" Vector noticed Jupiter's injuries.

"I'll explain later. For now, please save us from that robot!"

Vector discovered Egg Hammer to be getting back up on its feet again. Those spikes that always went in and out surrounded them, so he didn't have much space to fight the guy in. "Stay here an' don't move."

Omochao and Jupiter watched their savior leap towards the path they were originally running along and wait for Egg Hammer. He distinctly remembered this robot of the E-Series, the way they had to be defeated was by waiting until they lost their footing then pound their faces in.

"Piece a' cake!" Vector put his dukes up while Egg Hammer made its way towards him.

Once the giant twirled its hammer and fell on its back again, Vector latched onto its chest and started swinging. Each blow let him get deeper and deeper into Egg Hammer until he could reach his hands inside and pull out its energy core. So the crocodile did just that and scurried away to avoid the explosion.

Eggman slammed his hands into his table as he witnessed this.

"Yes! We've been saved!" Omochao cried.

Beyond anyone's understanding, the spike pits became deactivated and didn't retract anymore, so Vector walked along its safe tiles and regrouped with Omochao.

"Thank you, Vector! You are a lifesaver," Omochao praised the fighter.

"Aww, it was nothin'." Vector turned his attention to Jupiter. "So, who are you, Miss?"

"This is one of the friends that Sonic made in Crossroads City, Lita Kino."

Before any details could be given, Jupiter winced in pain and caused Vector to suggest he carry her the rest of the way.

"It looks like you can barely walk. Maybe I should carry ya' the rest of the way."

"No, it's okay." Jupiter waved her hand dismissively.

Vector and Omochao watched the heroine only to see her lose her balance again, and so luckily, Vector caught her in his arms.

"Lita, we understand your choice but those injuries need to be tended to. Until we regroup with the others, please let my friend here carry you."

Vector looked down at Jupiter for her consent and soon heard her agree to his idea. They got back on the original path and after easing through the gate, Omochao flew down and picked up the yellow Chaos Emerald.

"Six more emeralds to go!"

* * *

_**-Casino Night Zone-**_

Tuxedo Mask and Mini Moon entered Casino Night Zone and could only look around at it. There wasn't anywhere where they didn't see dazzling lights or glowing neon streets.

"This place is so bright!" Mini Moon went up to a ledge and looked at the glittering horizon ahead. She thought she had the most extraordinary view back in Grand Metropolis, but now she realized it didn't compare to this one.

Tuxedo Mask went over to Mini Moon and took in this magnificence for himself. Somewhere in this attractive city was the sole reason they came to it, and so they couldn't let sightseeing distract them. "Let's go, Mini Moon."

Mini Moon nodded and was told to hold onto Tuxedo Mask's back as he jumped over the ledge and glided towards that same horizon. Down below, they could see all of Casino Night Zone's lights. Mini Moon looked down and felt an excited smile make its way to her face.

Eventually, the duo reached the other side and was presented with palm trees and slot machines. A curious Mini Moon walked up to the slot machine and pulled the lever like so. She and Tuxedo Mask watched the slots spin until they saw two Sonic's and one Eggman.

Mini Moon stuck her tongue out at the Eggman in irritation. She didn't waste time in pulling the lever again.

Tuxedo Mask had to admit that he'd hoped to see good results from this slot machine too, however his thoughts changed as Eggman's face appeared on all three slots and spikes came flying from inside the slot machine's hole.

"Ah!" Mini Moon yelled.

Thankfully, the pink heroine was protected by her ally's black cape that both covered them, so many of those spikes came until there was no more and Tuxedo could put his cape down.

"I don't think it's a good idea to play this game anymore," Tuxedo Mask said to Mini Moon.

"Okay..." Mini Moon looked back at this slot machine as they started walking away. She'd really enjoyed it, but somehow Eggman tampered with it and turned it into a weapon. That big meanie!

As he'd figured, Tuxedo Mask sensed evil coming for them. He pulled out his cane and found Egg Pawns running towards them with weapons ready. So he told his ally, "Mini Moon. Stay close by me."

The pink Sailor Soldier did as she was told as these dozens of Egg Pawns came their way. Each one that thought they could comfort the heroes was taken down by Tuxedo Mask's cane until finally they were all down.

"Tuxedo Mask! I still see more of them!" Mini Moon yelled out.

Tuxedo Mask discovered what Mini Moon was saying and quickly began thinking of an escape route. He looked around until his eyes landed on a elevator.

Mini Moon stepped off of the elevator when it rose to the higher floor and began power-walking with Tuxedo Mask; those robots chasing them would stop at nothing until they were eliminated. From what Tuxedo Mask was told by Tails, a Chaos Emerald was an emerald that glowed brightly and was most likely being secured by a larger, stronger robot. So they would continue through this zone until they reached that point.

"Tuxedo Mask! Look over there!"

Mini Moon's comrade listened to her and noticed moving platforms. They each moved in a different direction, revealing the fact that if one were to pass through each one, then they could reach the other side.

So, after Mini Moon latched onto Tuxedo Mask's back again and the Egg Pawns caught up to them, Tuxedo Mask hurried past the first platform before it came down and squished him. The platform after that would ascend, so he waited until it came down and stepped on as if he were on a ride.

The instant he got off the platform and stepped on the floor in front of him, more Egg Pawns were there.

"No way!" Mini Moon cried, "How did they get up here?"

A voice in Tuxedo Mask's head told him to look over his shoulder, and when he did just that, he saw those earlier robots exiting from the platform. Now they were totally surrounded, and there wasn't a way to escape.

With no other choice, Tuxedo Mask started revealing roses and throwing them at his enemies. They exploded simultaneously as the battlefield galore with those roses and their petals.

Mini Moon found herself in awe of this rose petal shower instead of the Egg Pawns being eliminated. How beautiful it looked...

One would hear the clicking sounds of Mini Moon and Tuxedo Mask's shoes since they were walking with only the intention of finding the Chaos Emerald.

"The Chaos Emerald should be somewhere nearby," Tuxedo Mask spoke.

Mini Moon studied her surroundings as they kept moving and wondered exactly where the emerald could be.

From his same high-tech cameras, Eggman discovered these heroes' progress and had a fit. "The second team to have taken down my Egg Pawns? No way! I can't believe this!" With no time to waste, he rose from his chair and hurried for the door. "Decoe, Bocoe! Bring me the Egg Dealer! It's come to my attention that this is a good chance to try out my latest invention," Eggman said as a toothed grin crept onto his face.

* * *

_**-Green Hill-**_

The Sailor Animamates ended up finding the vehicles they had been following, except they were parked in the middle of this green field and everyone was already gone.

"Where do we go from here?" Iron Mouse asked her allies as she noticed the paths leading into seven different directions.

"There's seven roads but only three of us, so how will we take all of them?" added Aluminum Siren.

"You scatterbrain, each of us will pick only one road!" Tin Nyanko insulted the Mermaid Soldier, "That's our only choice. We'll take the first three and find their Chaos Emeralds, then take the next three."

"Then that only leaves one road left, because three plus three is six plus one more is seven."

"We know that already! Pick a road to go down."

In just a few minutes, everyone decided which path they would take and soon began towards it... unsuspecting of the dark female who snuck behind them and learned their motives.

This situation of Chaos Emeralds and treasure hunts interested her. Her subordinates could do well and please Master Galaxia if they kept their promise and took these Chaos Emeralds all in one swipe. Though they had managed to bring disappointment in the past, so if necessary, she would take over their duty and fulfill her leader's wishes by herself.

* * *

_**-Casino Night Zone-**_

Time seemed to move slow while Mini Moon and Tuxedo Mask still searched Casino Night Zone for its Chaos Emerald. Not because of the fact that the sky was always unlit to be night time, but because Mini Moon started feeling weary.

"Where could that emerald be?"

Tuxedo Mask had to admit that he didn't like the lag in this adventure too. His natural instincts couldn't have possibly been leading him in the wrong direction.

BOOM!

Tuxedo Mask and Mini Moon's attention was stolen from where this outrageous booming noise came from, and there before their very eyes was a giant slot machine with its own face and legs, an unexpected yet familiar scientist in its cockpit.

"Eggman!" Mini Moon exclaimed.

Tuxedo Mask remained silent and wore a stoic expression.

Eggman looked down at his foes and cracked a grin. "Muhahahaha! Without Sonic, you fools won't be able to stop me! Give up while you still have the chance!"

"No!" argued Mini Moon.

"Threatening a hero's friends because you assume they can't win without him! You've underestimated us for far too long, Eggman!" Tuxedo Mask gave this unique statement.

"Hmph! Then prove yourselves by defeating me!" Eggman took a hold of the levers on his machine, Egg Dealer, then accelerated forward.

Tuxedo Mask quickly grabbed Mini Moon and leapt out of the Egg Dealer's way. From what they saw, Eggman was speeding around the area in a circle. Those slots on the Egg Dealer all landed on missles and allowed Eggman to shoot his volley of actual missiles at his foes.

Tuxedo Mask counterattacked this missile fever with roses so Eggman revved up the Egg Dealer and let its slot reels spin again. Something about those reels caught Tuxedo Mask's eye and he acknowledged it.

Eggman rode around in the same pattern while his enemies evaded and dodged. They wouldn't find a way to stop Egg Dealer if he had anything to say about it... so why that masked man threw something at one of his reels scared him. "Hey!"

Mini Moon figured out what her future-dad was doing and hoped for the best. She watched him throw another rose at the second reel and heard Eggman bark, "Stop that!"

There was only one more reel left and Eggman was coming Tuxedo Mask's way again. The time given for Tuxedo Mask to hit the last reel would run out soon, so Eggman needed a way to impede him. As a last result, he pulled out a laser gun.

Mini Moon gasped at the discovery of this and hurriedly reached for her Pink Moon Stick. "No way am I going to let you shoot Tuxedo Mask!"

Eggman aimed his weapon with skilled precision. The Egg Dealer would approach his target soon. So at just the right moment...

"PINK... SUGAR... HEART... ATTACK!"

Mini Moon stood with her weapon aimed directly for their foe, but as usual, it didn't obey her properly...

"This ends now!" Eggman put his finger on the trigger and started to pull, though suddenly yelped in pain when something started jabbing him in the face. "Ow! What? What is the meaning of this?"

Magic hearts from the Pink Moon Stick kept a yelping Eggman down and that laser gun had already slipped from his fingers and fell to the ground. He couldn't see, but Mini Moon told Tuxedo Mask to hit the last reel on the Egg Dealer and activate what would end up as Bomb Fever. He heard their activation and wished that these annoying hearts would go away.

Finally, they did, but the bombs had already appeared under Egg Dealer with their timer beeping. "No! Don't drop them here!"

An explosion took over the atmosphere and ended the battle for good.

Tuxedo Mask and Mini Moon opened their eyes when the explosion's smoke vanished and they saw Eggman lying sideways in the Egg Dealer, darkened and burnt in the process.

He coughed a few times then lifted his head to see his victorious foes. "You haven't seen the last of me! You could go ahead and get this zone's Chaos Emerald, but you won't get the others, and you'll never find Sonic!"

Tuxedo Mask narrowed his eyes at Eggman at the sound of this name. He reached for Eggman by the cuff of the villain's jacket. "What do you mean by that?"

"Sonic and that pigtailed girl were arrested for terrorist attacks on Juuban High School in Crossroads City. Surely you watched the news or heard the reports?" Eggman grinned evilly.

Rather than talk back, Tuxedo Mask threw Eggman back to the ground and took off.

"Wait, Tuxedo Mask!" Mini Moon chased after this hero. In the middle of carrying her legs, she glanced back at Eggman. How had he known about those accusations placed on Serena and Sonic? And since he seemed to know, how had he framed them for it?

* * *

_**-Volcano Valley Zone-**_

Out of all the places in the world, Volcano Valley Zone was one of the hottest regions for anyone to journey to. Only those who were heroic and adventurous would have enough courage to step foot around this valley's narrow fuel pipes and hot boiling magma. Which was why heroes like Shadow and Sailor Pluto chose this task.

They stood on a rocky cliff that let them view this land's volcanic landscape.

"We must be careful while walking through here. Eggman is sure to already have his robots waiting for us, " Shadow warned Pluto.

Pluto nodded and teleported with Shadow as he'd made sure to include her.

Volcano Valley Zone contained floor tile like the kind in Spring Stadium, except it was tinted red from the lava. There existed moving platforms, so the heroes would be able to hop from ledge to ledge.

Pluto happened to notice pipes that spewed out flames repeatedly. If they wanted to be careful, they would have to wait for the flames to vanish before they ran past them.

As if on schedule, laser shots came towards Shadow from his left. He knocked down those Egg Pawns who shot at him with his mighty Chaos Spears while Pluto backed this up with an attack of her own.

"CHRONOS TYPHOON!"

All of those Egg Pawns who dared to oppose the Soldier of Revolution and the Ultimate Life Form got taken up into the Chronos Typhoon's tornado and were scattered. But the battle had just begun. Shadow and Pluto spun around and found dozen more Egg Pawns coming their way. This ambush caused Pluto and Shadow to separate since they decided to each take down their own group enemies.

The Garnet Rod was soon used as a sword since Pluto took on Egg Pawns with actual blades. They thrust and swung, never losing persistence to see the Sailor Scout defeated. As time went on, she ended up defeating them, however more appeared and she didn't realize that they'd backed her up towards a cliff.

From where he was, Shadow noticed Pluto about to lose her footing, so he spin-dashed into another challenger then ran over to the Sailor Scout and clutched her hand before she slipped.

Pluto stood back up with her staff gripped tighter and stood beside Shadow. These Egg Pawns only succeeded because they outnumbered them.

"There has to be a way to end this. Eggman has played his cards well to outnumber us," Pluto analyzed the situation.

"I'll take it from here!"

Pluto raised her eyebrow but knew it best to not ask any questions. Shadow was silent but witty. He'd battled Eggman hundreds of times before like Tails mentioned earlier, so Pluto would trust him. The Sailor Scout went back to the entrance that they found to enter this Volcano Valley Zone.

"Just watch this!" Shadow spread his arms out and made the bracelets placed around his wrists come off. These accessories were otherwise known as his Inhibitor Rings, bracelets that were made to prevent his power from overflowing and stop the risk of him over-exerting himself. So when taken off, his attack power would be boosted.

Pluto sensed this rise in power and noticed his missing bracelets. It felt as if Shadow had been keeping this power locked away and only opened it every blue moon, but that wasn't the case; his Inhibitor Rings were always suppressing it.

"Behold the ultimate power!" A red aura appeared around Shadow and he clenched his fists. The hedgehog closed his eyes to concentrate and summon his power from within. "CHAOS... BLAST!"

In the same time it took for Shadow to dash with his air skates, his enemies were obliterated just as quickly, though other things had been affected by his Chaos Energy. Pluto noticed it as she could heard destruction take place and volcanoes rumble. She looked down at Shadow and spotted Shadow collapse to the ground like she figured he would. Those bracelets weren't to be taken for granted.

He'd done it again. His true power was released and he'd grown fatigued after unleashing it when it was always too much for him to control. Shadow forced himself to get up and stand but his immortal body yearned for him to lie back down and rest.

"Shadow, we must hurry. Volcanoes are starting to erupt so soon this entire zone will be covered in hot lava."

"No problem. Let's get moving." Shadow got up and led Pluto away from the area. Before actually following him though, Pluto remembered his bracelets and picked them up from the ground.

Shadow could sense that the Chaos Emerald was in the direction they were heading in, so they only moved forward, getting past the moving platforms and spewing flames.

If volcanoes were humans, then they would be highly upset with the way Shadow disturbed them with that Chaos Energy. Lava-covered rocks flew from inside the volcanoes and began destroying where ever they landed.

Pluto and Shadow eventually stumbled upon the end of the road where they spotted the blue Chaos Emerald. Even in his weary state, Shadow picked up speed and went ahead of Pluto to retrieve the emerald himself. By the time she caught up to the hedgehog, the jewel rested in his hand.

"We did it," Pluto said with gladness then remembered what was in her hands. "Here. You almost forgot these."

Shadow looked down at his Inhibitor Rings, took them from his comrade, and slipped them back on his wrists.

This valley was rumbling with lava coming out of its volcanoes very rapidly. Pluto could see it firsthand as the magma made its way towards them.

"You're power is greatly exceeding when you don't have those bracelets on. But if you were to take them off again, it may be your last time." the Sailor Scout said to Shadow over the volcanoes' noise.

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form. I know when I've reached my limits."

At the sound of humongous thuds hitting the ground, Pluto and Shadow ceased their footsteps and noticed three giant robots land some feet away from them. These shared characteristics with the Egg Hammer that Vector faced back in Spring Stadium Zone, but these types wore helmets and were named E-1007 Heavy Egg Hammer.

With the blue Chaos Emerald as an energy resource, Shadow borrowed its power and helped Pluto attack these Heavy Egg Hammers one by one. They'd had to be cautious as they tried swinging or squashing them with those giant hammers, but Shadow informed Pluto of how to defeat them.

"That wasn't so hard!" Shadow said with an arrogant tone.

"Not so fast!"

Shadow and Pluto both looked up and discovered Tin Nyanko standing on the other side of zone with a moving platform separating them.

While Shadow clenched his fists and Pluto placed a tighter grip on her staff, Tin Nyanko yelled, "You nabbed that emerald so hand it over now! Or I'll have to let my bracelets do the talking!" Tin Nyanko pointed her wrists at her foes to show then what she meant.

"Have you gone mad? We are the ones keeping this Chaos Emerald! Leave or else you shall face the wrath of the Ultimate Life Form!" Shadow barked at the Cat Soldier.

"The Ultimate Life Form?" After Tin Nyanko asked this with a mocking tone, another rock was shot from a volcano and landed somewhere near them. Time was awasting. "That doesn't scare me! Get ready to face my wrath!"

Tin Nyanko's foes prepared themselves as she started blasting golden energy from her bracelets. The shots came, but Pluto used her staff to protect Shadow and herself with a garnet-colored force field, the Garnet Ball.

While inside this defensive sphere, Shadow came up with a brilliant idea. He began to retrieve more of the Chaos Emerald's power to make up for the energy he'd used on those Egg Pawns earlier.

Once that force field was down, Tin Nyanko readied herself to fire more shots.

Shadow turned into a ball and began revving up to perform a Spin Dash. Red energy coursed around Shadow as he spun this time.

Tin Nyanko didn't waste any time in shooting Shadow down, but when he came towards her, he whizzed past her shots and rammed into her. She was sent towards a ledge and almost fell into the lava below it, but the Sailor Animamate acted in time and jumped back up like a feline.

"Hmph! Is that all you've got?" Shadow asked with a fanged grin, "You disgust me!"

Tin Nyanko gritted her teeth in anger. She didn't like this black creature's attitude at all.

"Shadow, we don't have that much time left."

Shadow took heed of Pluto's words and went over to her so he could use Chaos Control.

Tin Nyanko gasped when she witnessed this supernatural phenomenon take place. That hedgehog had used that emerald for instant transmission. To imagine what other abilities the Chaos Emeralds gave people made her want to collect all seven even more. But first she'd have to find a way to get out of this valley.

* * *

_**-Egg Carrier-**_

Eggman slammed his fists into his desk harder than the first time. He growled and screamed and shook his fists with this fueled anger of his. Sonic Moon had managed to escape scot-free with another Chaos Emerald. How had the odds became in their favor? Before, he had been trying to put on an arrogant front with Tuxedo Mask when he told him he was free to snatch the red Chaos Emerald, but he hadn't expected that masked man and that little brat to defeat him so easily.

"These meddlesome pests, they're ruining everything! How am I suppose to power up the Eggsterminator and capture those Sailor Scouts if there are no Chaos Emeralds? I'm at my limit, I have no choice! Mikan, Metal Sonic. Go and steal the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic's friends. If you have to destroy them, then by all means, do so. I won't let them keep ruining my plans like this."

Both of Eggman's servants obeyed their his orders and left for their given destinations. They were once again in their normal appearances, where Mikan resembled Eggman with her clothes and hair, and Metal Sonic reappeared as the mechanized robot he was purposed to be.

* * *

-_**Inside G.U.N. Helicopter-**_

It didn't seem like the expected thing to do, but while being taken to G.U.N. Headquarters, Serena and Sonic shared stories.

Sonic had just finished listening to Serena and was almost too amazed to speak. "You mean you never really wanted to be a Sailor Scout?"

"Yeah... at the time, I was so wrapped up in Sailor V Games and going out with friends," Serena rubbed her head sheepishly, "But Luna helped me get out of that, and I mean really helped me. There wasn't a day where she didn't get on my case. After a few weeks, I realized that I couldn't keep being a scaredy-cat because I was the reincarnation of the Moon Princess who the others were searching for. So we've been together ever since and now we've met you and the other Sonic Heroes."

"Yeah," Sonic smiled back at Serena, "We're glad to have met all of you guys. I think it was fate's way of saying we were supposed to be friends."

"You're probably right." Serena looked around at the room they were in and grew anxious. "There has to be a way to get out of this. Sonic, maybe if you kept spin-dashing into the door..."

"Yeah, good idea!" Sonic rose to his feet and stretched his arms. "Where we'll end up if we break out of here is a mystery, but anything's better than staying cooped up in here."

"I'll help you break the door."

As Sonic remained silent, he watched Serena reappear in her Eternal Sailor Soldier uniform.

"I'm ready," Sailor Moon spoke again.

"Okay!"

The G.U.N. soldier operating the helicopter continued steering it as he'd been commanded... when suddenly he felt the entire vehicle be jerked to one side. "What?"

For some time, this series of the helicopter leaning back and forth went on until he figured out those terrorists' plans and called for back up.

"Come in, G.U.N. Headquarters, come in, G.U.N. Headquarters! The terrorists are trying to escape! I repeat, the hedgehog and the girl are trying to break out of this helicopter! I need reinforcements to keep them down!"

Those who'd been immediately sent to assist this G.U.N. Soldier were given his exact whereabouts thanks to the electronic waves his communicator gave out, so they eventually approached his helicopter and watched how it kept swerving.

Sailor Moon grunted as she helped Sonic ram into the door again. "I can feel it starting to open! One more time should do it!"

Sonic nodded to his partner and together, with all of their might, they tackled the door and watched it fly off its hinges and fall down to the lands below.

"Yoo hoo!" Sonic cheered by raising a fist. "We're outta here!"

Sailor Moon prepared to leap from out of the helicopter herself, but G.U.N. Beetles appeared and aimed their guns at them. She hurried to grab Sonic by the hand and take off into the air with her feathery wings.

"When did they get here?" Sailor Moon asked as she ascended through the clouds.

"I don't know, but we gotta lose them, fast!"

Sonic's ally took his words into consideration and increased her speed. Their enemies started firing at them so Sailor Moon had to sway to and fro. They were so persistent at attacking her.

"Hey, G.U.N. Beetles! Why don't you try some of this?" Sonic summoned a ball of bluish energy with his free hand. Then he threw it and yelled out, "SONIC WIND!"

The G.U.N. Beetles were taken into this blue tornado and thrown everywhere that was away from their enemies.

"All right! Way to go, Sonic!" Sailor Moon smiled down at the hedgehog.

"Yeah! Not bad!"

* * *

_**-Diamond Dust Zone-**_

Having finally reached their destination, Tails lowered the X-Tornado to where his allies would be able to jump out and land safely. He told them all that he would also look for the Chaos Emerald while maneuvering the plane, so Mercury and Amy jumped down while Cream and Cheese hovered to the snowy ground.

"Just look at this place! It's a beautiful winter wonderland!" Amy looked around in awe, "This would be the perfect place for Sonic to bring me to when it's around the holidays."

"Amy, don't forget why we came here," said a soft-hearted Cream.

"Don't worry, Cream. I haven't forgotten. Just where would the Chaos Emerald be in a zone like this?"

Mercury studied their surroundings as it was steadily being showered by crystal snowflakes. She pulled out her Mercury Computer and decided to track down Diamond Dust Zone's highest energy spot. "The emerald should be somewhere in that direction."

Amy, Cream and Cheese looked to where Mercury pointed and found a checkered tile area with frosty snowmen, jagged icicles, and of course Egg Pawns who clearly were wearing gloves and scarfs.

"And it's being guarded by those bad robots," pointed out Cream.

"Not to worry, Cream. The four of us will take them down," Amy declared with a burning confidence, revealing her Piko Piko Hammer from subspace, "Let's go!"

Eggman was foolish to underestimate Sonic's friends. They approached his Egg Pawns and with their own techniques took down every single one.

Cream shouted a battle cry as she threw Cheese at her enemies and he uncurled from his ball form when they were all destroyed. "Good job, Cheese!"

Cheese chirped at its owner with a happy smile. They would get through this.

Amy growled and said to her challengers, "Anyone who's an enemy of Sonic is an enemy of mine!" The Rosy Rascal swung her hammer in the perfect motion like Dorothy Kamenshek or Terrie Davis swinging a baseball bat and whacked most of the Egg Pawns high into the sky.

The Egg Pawns that Mercury dealt with decided it amongst themselves to surround her. She acknowledged this and started thinking of a way to fight back.

"MERCURY BUBBLES... BLAST!"

With a foggy mist shrouding the Egg Pawns, they couldn't see where their enemy went. Though water soon appeared and trapped them inside thick, frigid ice.

The battle area cleared up and Mercury could see the Egg Pawns all trapped in her ice.

"Ami!" Amy ran over to the Water Soldier with Cream and Cheese behind her, "We took care of the other robots, so we can finish looking for the emerald."

"Alright." Mercury led her team towards the direction given by her mini computer, making their way past the diamond dusted tiles and harshly chilled weather... and as expected, the white Chaos Emerald sat under a snow-capped tree beside a frozen waterfall.

"There it is!" Cream raced towards the Chaos Emerald with arms spread out and a delighted smile coloring her face while Cheese flew behind her and Mercury and Amy watched, feeling totally accomplished. They'd taken down Eggman's robots and now were about to already obtain one of the Chaos Emeralds.

"Chao chao chao!" Cheese chirped excitedly.

As Cream extended her hand to reach forward and take the Chaos Emerald, someone else's hand came first. She gasped at its metal claw and looked over to find Metal Sonic taking what rightfully belonged to her.

"Hey!" Amy made a frown as she and Mercury saw this.

Metal Sonic turned on his heel to start away then activated his jet packs to fly back to the Egg Carrier. Cream wouldn't let that stop her.

"Cream!" Amy tried calling after the rabbit, "Ami, I don't think Cream heard me! How are we going to follow them?"

To Amy's fortune, the X-Tornado came from behind and motioned them to hurry inside.

"Hurry and get in!" Tails opened the cockpit for his friends.

They latched on their seatbelts and watched Tails take them back up into the blue skies. Metal Sonic had been smart to steal the Chaos Emerald first, but he wouldn't get away.

"Which way did they go?"

"That way!"

Tails looked to where Amy pointed and maneuvered his vehicle to soar in that direction.

They could see Cream and Cheese having quite the trouble with catching Metal Sonic. Obviously his speed matched the his rival's, so their chase reached a point to where Cream stopped and panted for breath.

"He's... too... fast."

Cheese agreed with Cream as the baby was growing fatigued too.

"There they are!" exclaimed Amy.

Tails reopened the X-Tornado's cockpit and when Amy called their comrade's names, they noticed them and found themselves plopping onto Mercury's lap.

"Are you and Cheese alright, Cream?" Mercury asked with a motherly tone.

"... yeah. But Metal Sonic got away with the Chaos Emerald. Cheese and I tried to stop him, but he was just too fast like Mister Sonic."

"It's alright, Cream. We know you two did your best. For now, try to rest."

"Okay, Miss Ami."

Mercury smiled at Vanilla's daughter for being so cute and polite.

* * *

_**-Egg Carrier Deck-**_

It'd been just as Tails expected. Metal Sonic was making his way back to where ever Eggman was, and that was his most used aircraft yet.

"Incredible! That airship is so huge!" Mercury said as she was amazed.

"This is Eggman's flying fortress, the Egg Carrier," Tails informed Mercury.

She had to admit that she was impressed with this, even if it did belong to her foe. It looked to be built so complex and intricate that she wondered what mechanisms it contained.

"This airship is built with armored hull and comes with air mines, missile launchers, laser cannons, and lock-on energy cannons."

As Mercury gazed at the Egg Carrier, Tails flew around the aircraft to let her inspect it. He also believed that this aircraft was a feat not to be undermined, but it belonged to their enemy and no one else.

With no time to ever waste, Tails found a spot on the Egg Carrier's Forward Deck to land on. He warned his friends to hold on tight as the landing would be a bit shaky. They each listened to him and bared through the process as X-Tornado came to a stop.

Next, they exited the plane and discovered a bridge. The path that would lead them straight to Eggman.

From earlier's events, Mercury found herself carrying Cream and Cheese in her arms to save the little ones from burning so much energy. They assured her that they would be fine walking, but she saw the tiredness in their eyes.

"We can reach Eggman easily by crossing that bridge up ahead," Tails informed Mercury.

"Good. Then let's hurry."

Just as Mercury took the first step with her allies, she almost dropped Cream and Cheese as the whole Egg Carrier began to rumble.

"Why is the Egg Carrier shaking?" Mercury never received a verbal answer, but she got the response as everyone got back up to their feet and noticed a change in the area.

"Oh no! That bridge is moved to take us somewhere else now," pointed out Amy.

"Eggman changed the Egg Carrier's position into offensive, so that means this bridge will only take us to the Sky Deck," Tails added to Amy's statement.

"What is the Sky Deck?" Mercury asked Tails.

"It's the area infested with cannons and narrow walkways that Sonic and I had to get through when we needed to cross this bridge. Eggman succeeded in stalling for time, so it looks like we'll have to go through the Sky Deck too."

Amy and Cream grew a bit scared at the sound of this. Sonic had narrated his story of zipping and dodging through the enemies in Sky Deck. But he was Sonic; he was able to complete this dangerous act.

Mercury noticed the girls' reactions and set Cream and Cheese down so she could kneel down in front of all of them. "It's okay to be a little scared. I'm sure that sometimes even Sonic gets a little afraid, but Tails and I won't let anything happen to you. He's told me multiple stories of you all going on adventures together, so this one wouldn't be any different, right?"

"... right!" Amy mustered courage to say this, "We can do this!"

"That's the spirit, Amy! As long as we work together, we can get through this," Mercury encouraged Sonic's friends then turned to face the bridge, "So let us get ourselves that Chaos Emerald."

* * *

_**-Crystal Tokyo-**_

As it was beautiful and clear daylight outside, a dark-haired female who looked much like any of the Sailor Scouts could be seen walking towards a castle made up of pure crystal. They carried what's known as a glaive in one hand and four stones in the other. Their pale violet boots clicked against the ground as they approached the castle gates and eased their way through them.

Soon, this Sailor Soldier was on Crystal Palace grounds and about to enter the royal throne room, but the guards at the main entrance had to give her access to pass first. She explained to them that she was here to speak to the Queen of something very important. They came to understand her words so they let her continue through to where the Queen was sitting in her throne with her husband.

"Neo-Queen Serenity. Neo-King Endymion." The Sailor Soldier bowed respectfully then stood back up. "I have come to speak to you of something that concerns Small Lady Serenity."

Both of Rini's parents grew concerned and listened well to this Sailor Soldier's words.

"Neo-Queen Serenity. When you realized your destiny, your memories were awakened and so were the memories of your team mates. It's been revealed that the same thing is meant to take place with Small Lady Serenity. The Sailor Quartet is her team."

Rini's parents reacted surprised to this explanation. They looked down as the Sailor Soldier opened her palm to reveal four stones. Something about each of them looked sort of magical, so they stepped down from their stools and inspected it.

"What are these?" asked Neo-Queen Serenity.

"These are the Sailor Quartet, each resting inside these stones. They are able to be awakened by the power of the Silver Crystal, so that is why I've brought them here, so that when Sailor Mini Moon is fully awakened, you could send them to the past to be her aid."

"I see." Neo-Queen Serenity turned her head to Neo-King Endymion and wondered what he thought about this situation.

"Very well," Neo-King Endymion sealed the deal, "We'll wait until she has awakened and summon these four to be her trusted, loyal guardians. Thank you for bringing this up to us, Saturn."

"I am only fulfilling my duty." The heroine referred to as Saturn took a bow and handed Neo-Queen Serenity the four stones.

* * *

_**-Marble Zone-**_

Uranus and Neptune walked through the grass and eyed the marble walls and pillars they were passing until they reached a path leading underground. Once taking that road, they learned that Marble Zone's underground rooms contained moving platforms, boiling hot lava, and retractable spikes to watch out for.

"The sea is getting stormy again. This zone has more danger than we might think, so let's take precautions," Neptune said to her partner.

Uranus gave a silent nod then took the first step into their adventure with Neptune behind her.

"None of Eggman's robots have shown up yet," Uranus pointed out as she and Neptune jumped to the platform in front of them. They stood still as they waited for it to move and allow them to get on the next one.

After getting through all of the platforms, the Outer Scouts still didn't see any signs of Egg Pawns. Neptune grew worried but was distracted by a switch she noticed on the floor in front of them. Uranus discovered the door also on the ground and therefore urged Neptune to press the switch.

The door opened and led the heroines into an obstacle with lava following them.

"Uranus!"

Quickly, the Soldier of the Sky turned around and found Neptune stuck because somehow her skirt got caught onto one of the spikes. So her ally rushed to her aid and deliberately ripped her skirt off of the spike before the lava was close to touching them.

They both let out a sigh as they jumped up to escape the tunnel and were free from that persistent lava. Neptune's foreshadowing had saved them from the worst.

Within the atmosphere, the Outer Scouts could hear clicking footsteps. They looked every which way to find the source of this sound and their eyes landed on a red creature with stylish dreadlocks. If Uranus remembered correctly, this was the same individual who Sonic said was one of his best friends.

They watched him run past them into a hallway that was perpendicular to the one they were in, but a voice in his mind told him to look their way and he almost gasped at their arrival. Who were these two?

"You must be Knuckles The Echidna," Uranus stated coolly.

In a mistrusting manner, Knuckles clenched his fists and and narrowed his eyes on the Outer Scouts. They certainly weren't from anywhere around here, and they carried the most unusual energies. "How do you know who I am?"

"Because Sonic told us," answered Neptune.

"You know Sonic?"

"Yes, he's friends with our other friends, Serena, Mina, Rini, Rei, Lita, and Ami."

Knuckles was stunned as he heard this explanation. Then he remembered his dream. "Oh... then what are you two doing here? What's the crisis?"

"Doctor Eggman sent us a video where he said he was going to get all seven of the Chaos Emeralds to power his strongest robot. We, our allies, and some of your friends have come here to try and gather them before he makes that happen."

"Well I can't say I'm surprised about that. Since when did you and my friends team up?"

"We'd like to tell you, but now isn't the right time or place," Neptune assured Knuckles.

Knuckles understood the green-haired heroine's words and agreed to lead them to this zone's Chaos Emerald, mentioning that he destroyed all of Eggman's baddies who were ordered to guard it because he'd realized that the world wasn't in balance. So they continued after him until going inside a room with a pedestal and the light-blue Chaos Emerald resting on it.

In silence, everyone admired this Chaos Emerald's brilliance while Knuckles stepped forward to grab it. Uranus reached her hand out to receive this jewel from Knuckles, but he instead kept it in his hand. So the Outer Scouts acknowledged this and kept it to themselves. Besides, they had heard how the Master Emerald Guardian's personality could be.

"Now we can meet the others back in Green Hill Zone," said Neptune.

"Think again, Sailor Scout!"

Everyone's eyes landed and fell on a petite girl with mouse ears. Obviously, they weren't aware of their background but sensed the shadowy evil.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Knuckles interrogated the girl.

"Sailor Iron Mouse, servant of the wonderful Master Galaxia of Shadow Galactica. I've come to take that Chaos Emerald, so unless you want to all die, you should let me have it."

Knuckles snorted irritably. "Not a chance." After tossing the Chaos Emerald back to Uranus and Neptune, he pounded his fists together and rushed towards Iron Mouse.

She frustrated him because of how she kept dodging and evading his punches.

Knuckles's new allies spectated this and could see that Knuckles was failing miserably.

Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss.

"Grr!" Trying to land a hit on this Sailor Animamate was beginning to really boil Knuckles's temper.

* * *

_**-Sky Deck-**_

Just as Tails explained, the area him and his friends stepped into was the left wing of the Egg Carrier where the Sky Deck was located. And as he remembered, their goal would be to reach the end of the underside of the large wing where a huge cannon stands in their way. Of course Mercury had never been in a situation like this, so she was a tad bit nervous at first. But her furry friends encouraged her in the same manner as she had to them. So everyone went up to the cannon and crawled inside it, then were all launched towards the main body of the ship and had to latch onto its circular canisters.

All of the girls almost lost their hold on the canisters since this was their first time visiting this place. But they put all fears aside and followed Tails across the steel rigging.

* * *

_**-Egg Carrier-**_

Metal Sonic returned to the Egg Carrier's control room with the item he'd been asked to bring.

"Excellent! Now they're out of one Chaos Emerald. Mikan is on her way to retrieve a second one." Eggman took the Chaos Emerald from his robot and set it inside a special glass container. "Those heroes you stole this Chaos Emerald from are on their way here, I'm sure. But they'll never get past the Sky Deck! Muhahahaha!"

* * *

_**-Crossroads City-**_

Sailor Moon and Sonic successfully escaped back home and away from the hands of G.U.N., only to see that it was empty and police officials were patrolling it.

Sonic looked at the ghost town as Sailor Moon flew above it. "This city's still empty, eh?"

"And there's cops driving down every corner. We're gonna have to keep ourselves hidden." After saying this, Sailor Moon landed inside an ally and set Sonic down, then took a peek from behind the ally wall. Police cars literally drove up and down every street. So since Sailor Moon's family was forced to stay in their home as well, that meant they would worry about her and call her cell phone.

Sonic found his partner to be transforming back into her civilian clothes and asked her why she did so.

"My parents will call this new cell phone they bought me so I wanna answer it and let them know I'm okay."

A tiny smile found its way to Sonic's lips when he heard this clarified answer. Letting the Tsukino family know of their daughter's whereabouts was still important even if Eggman and Galaxia were planning to take over the world. "Okay."

As Serena just said, her cellphone rang and the caller was her mom, so she answered the call and began the conversation.

"Hello? Mom?"

"Oh, Serena! I'm so glad you're alright! Your father and I were watching the news today when they said someone blew up your school. Are you injured? Where are you and Rini?"

"We're both alright, mom. W-we're both hanging out with our own friends."

"What time will you girls be home?"

Serena looked at Sonic as if he had the answer, but then she regained her voice. "Uhh... I would say around dinner time."

"Alright, Serena. Be careful."

After giving her farewell, Serena ended the call and returned her phone to her pocket. "Well, since that's taken care of, we should let the others know we're okay."

"Yeah." Since Omochao had taken part in helping Tails make Sonic Moon communicators into the form of watches, Sonic dialed his so that he would have contact with Tails. His screen turned on and showed a place that he was very familiar with. Its sounds of the flying chopper bots and mini cannons helped him see. "Tails? Tails?"

Sonic's best friend, Mercury, Amy, Cream, and Cheese could be heard yelling and shouting as they fought the flying chopper bots, dodged shots from the mini cannons, and leapt their way across the canisters.

"Tails? Can you hear me, buddy? Mercury? Cream? Amy?!"

Serena formed a concerned frown as she and Sonic never got a response. They couldn't help but feel panicky and in denial as they kept hearing their friends be assaulted a couple of times and be pushed to the verge of death.

"Any of you, please say something!" cried Serena.

But to no avail.

...

Seeing how the connection between their contact was lost and the screen turned into static, Sonic grew angry and clenched his fist.

"Where are they?" Serena asked fearfully.

"Inside the Egg Carrier, on the Sky Deck! We've gotta hurry up and save them!"

Serena reverted into Sailor Moon and took off to the skies with Sonic in her arms. "What's the Egg Carrier?"

"Eggman's airship that apparently he's using again! Tails and I went into Sky Deck and took care of his robots before, but Amy and Cream and shouldn't be there!"

"Why are they there in the first place? Where's everyone else?"

"Good question!" A mixture of anger, fear, and confusion brewed on Sonic's face. "I'll try to call Trista!"

Sailor Moon flew across the cloudy blue skies as fast as her wings would let her. She watched Sonic form a connection with Pluto who could be seen standing with Shadow in the middle of a field.

"Trista!" Sonic called the Sailor Soldier.

"Sonic! Sailor Moon! You both mananged to escape from G.U.N.."

Pluto stared back at Sonic with a relieved smile while Shadow noticed this and looked at her wristwatch for himself. He saw the hedgehog flying through the clouds with that same pigtailed-girl.

"Yes, we did, but we're fine! Please tell us you know why Mercury, Tails, Amy, Cream, and Cheese went to Eggman's airship by themselves!"

"What?" Pluto replied with shock.

"The Doctor must've have sent someone to snatch the same Chaos Emerald they were after, so they followed them back to his ship," Shadow made this interjection.

"You guys are looking for the emeralds?" asked a terribly confused Sonic.

"We're tracking them down before the Doctor gets his hands on them and powers up the Eggsterminator, his strongest robot yet."

"Are you kidding me?" Sailor Moon asked in disbelief.

"No, it's true. He's already sent his Egg Pawns after us when we went into each zone. Where are the both of you right now?"

"In the air trying to look for that Egg Head!" answered Sonic, "Where are you guys?"

"Tails told us to meet him back here in the middle of Green Hill Zone when we found a Chaos Emerald," Pluto replied to Sonic.

"Well, do you think you could meet us on the Egg Carrier so we can all find Tails and the others?"

"Yes."

"Cool! See ya' later!" Sonic ended the call and turned his eyes back forward to skies in front of him.

* * *

_**-Marble Zone-**_

Knuckles let out a battle cry as he lunged towards Iron Mouse. And this time, he succeeded in punching her across the jaw and sending her into the wall.

Bricks came tumbling down and covered Iron Mouse as she was sent into them. The Mouse Soldier didn't move for some time, but soon the crumbled bricks were moved and she emerged from underneath them. Having came up quickly, she hurried with aiming her bracelets at Knuckles and firing at him.

The echidna rolled and jumped away from these shots but he could never counterattack with a projectile object since his forte were his packed fists.

"URANUS..."

With astonishment, Knuckles looked over his shoulder and found that woman with the short hair powering up for some kind of attack.

"WORLD... SHAKING!" Uranus's orange sphere of energy sped along the ground, leaving a dug trail behind it.

Iron Mouse braced herself as this bright orb was coming her way. To her opponent's misfortune, she evaded it, but noticed her opponent reveal a jeweled sword and charge at her with it.

Uranus yelled out a battle cry as she swung at Iron Mouse and kept striking until she landed a hit. Though unexpectedly, she found Knuckles to be by her and try to take down their foe as well. They both had to leap back as Iron Mouse threw a roundhouse kick at them.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I was doing fine by myself," Knuckles stated bluntly.

"Yeah? It looked like you could've used some help," Uranus retorted with sarcasm.

"Hmph." Knuckles said nothing more as his ego did the talking.

Uranus put her attention back to Iron Mouse and noticed that she'd summoned a monstrous rat made of some strange purple energy. It went straight for Uranus and Knuckles, but both jumped out of harm's way and immediately began to unleash their own moves.

"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!" Uranus raised her planet's treasure above her head and sent bright slashes of their energy at Iron Mouse, successfully landing a hit and watching her yelp at the cuts she received.

"Think that's rough? Take this!" Knuckles followed after Uranus by sending what were known as Thunder Arrows.

The pain this Sailor Animamate felt was so excruciating that her screams went on and on. Her opponents could only watch until she finally collapsed and became unconscious.

Neptune had a significant thought come to her mind as she stared at Iron Mouse.

"Neptune." Uranus watched her partner present the Deep Aqua Mirror without mentioning her reasons for doing so.

Knuckles, on the other hand, was stuck on the fact that this heroine even had a magical mirror. He wondered where she got the item from and what she was going to do with it.

"This girl lying on the ground isn't the living the truth." Neptune pointed the Deep Aqua Mirror at Iron Mouse. "I'm going to uncover it so she can be restored."

Neptune's comrades stayed silent as they watched her utter the needed phrase and send a beam of light from her mirror.

"SUBMARINE... REFLECTION!"

As that light shot from Neptune's mirror and touched its target, its brightness caused everyone to cover their eyes. After a few seconds, the light disappeared and they reopened their eyes to find Iron Mouse in a school uniform. Those ears of hers were gone so now one could see her human ears and hair better.

Knuckles was speechless. "This is her true self?"

"Yes. My mirror never lies," Neptune said while noticing a glowing object beside Iron Mouse, "This crystal next to her was what she was using to become a Sailor Soldier. But since it wasn't originally hers, it might find the way back to its rightful owner."

Before anyone could reply to Neptune's statement, they spotted the Sailor Crystal moving towards her and Uranus. As strange as it was, they stood still and witnessed its glow become brighter.

"Thank you for setting my Sailor Crystal free."

The Outer Scouts heard this feminine voice and discovered the figure who'd said them. A floating spirit of the rightful bearer of this Sailor Crystal, Sailor Chuu.

"This girl laying before you killed me and stole my crystal. Before, she was just an innocent girl who was convinced she would have everything if she swore her allegiance to the Shadow Galactica and became servant under its Queen. Now that she has been returned to normal, I will give you Sailor Soldiers my powers. It is for the best."

Sailor Chuu took hold of her crystal and handed it to her heroes. They stared at it for some time until placing their hands on it and feeling it strengthen them.

Knuckles found himself having to cover his eyes again as new light took over. He hadn't the slightest idea on what to think about this entire situation of Sailor Scouts and Sailor Crystals, but the Master Emerald Guardian had no more time to wonder as he reopened his eyes and saw Uranus and Neptune in different outfits; his jaw was left hanging open when he caught sight of the angel wings on their backs.

One would be able to see that their uniforms resembled Sailor Moon's except for their usual color schemes. Same puffed shoulder pads and ruffled skirts. Long, white boots. Even the gloves that reached past their wrists and almost met with their shoulder pads.

"You look surprised to notice us, Knuckles," Neptune showed a bit of a smile, "We've just been elevated and given more power, that's all." She then looked over to Uranus who seemingly didn't have anything to say.

The sounds of moaning interrupted Neptune before she could think of anything else to say. So she, Uranus, and Knuckles turned around and found Chuuko to be waking up.

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around at everyone with the most confused reaction. "Where am I? Who are all of you?"

"We're peacemakers." With a sweet smile, Neptune offered her hand for Chuuko to take it.

Chuuko gasped at this kind gesture and was hesitant about taking it. She looked up into Neptune's eyes and saw how misty blue they looked. One could stare at them and get lost because of how gentle and warm they appeared.

Chuuko found herself feeling safe because of this and accepted Neptune's trust, being helped up from the ground and following everyone out of this cave to where she was told they would wait for their friends.

As if by instinct, Tin Nyanko gasped and stopped making her way away from Volcano Valley Zone. The Sailor Animamate felt a bad feeling inside her heart, as if something had been stripped of her. She couldn't be too specific, so she brushed the thought from her mind and returned to walking.


	25. Chapter 25

**(A/N: Forgive me! I know it's been like two months since I didn't update. But there's no internet at home. Surprisingly, having no internet gave me a lot more time to write, so these next few chapters are much longer. So stay tuned!)**

* * *

_**-Star Light Zone-**_

Much like Casino Night Zone, Star Light Zone's skies carried a starry, midnight shade to it, except it was more of a urban environment with its peaceful vibe and roller-coaster loops.

The first time Sonic came to this place, there weren't many baddies to worry about, but now it was swarmed with Egg Pawns. Descending stairways and bottomless-pits were present to make navigating harder, but Rouge and Venus wouldn't let that stop them.

Rouge landed on the ground and stood beside Venus as they gazed at Star Light Zone from its entrance. They acknowledged the fact that this placed contained the Chaos Emerald and they would have to fight their way to obtain it, but helplessly, they still admitted that the stars in the sky were so beautiful.

"Those stars up there look so lovely! I wish a cute guy could take me somewhere like this for a date."

Rouge gave a short laugh about this statement and put her hands on her hips as they started walking. "Well aren't you a hopeless romantic? You can't tell me as someone as pretty as you hasn't attracted any guys."

"I have, but they're already taken or not my type," Venus explained with comical despair, "My prince hasn't came on his horse and swept me off my feet yet."

"Well, don't get too worried over it. You'll meet your Prince soon," Rouge tried encouraging her friend, "If you ask me, it's better to be independent and rely as less as you possibly can on anyone."

"That's what you're doing?"

"Well of course! How do you think I became such a wonderful treasure hunter? I had to give it my all to get to where I am today."

"Sonic told us that Knuckles is a treasure hunter too. Are you guys partners or do you compete to see who gets the treasure first?"

"That Knuckle Head wishes he could compete with me. I'm the better treasure hunter and that's why he gets mad."

"Then would you say he likes you for that?"

Rouge found herself at a loss of words as she heard this specific one being addressed to her. Just who was this Mina girl?

"No, I wouldn't say that!" Rouge asked with a faint blush on her cheeks,"Just what are you getting at?"

"Nothing. Just curious."

Rouge looked over at Venus with suspicion glazing her eyes. She hoped that this Soldier of Love meant nothing more than curiosity. "Okay then." Rouge cleared her throat and faced the road ahead of them. "This zone we're in has dozens of detours, so it would be easier if we avoided them and flew straight to the emerald."

"Good idea."

With their route planned out, Rouge and Venus took off to the skies where they could gaze and take awe in its twinkling blue stars. Unknowing to them however, groups of robots known as E-1002 Egg Flappers, E-2000, and E-2000 R slowly hovered after them.

Rouge remembered the story that Sonic told about this place. How he'd had to speed his way through here to locate the Chaos Emerald and defeat Eggman all at the same time, taking the few quiet moments he had to enjoy its scenery and do some quick stargazing. He'd mentioned something about coming here again for another visit, but different adventures and just life itself didn't let him have that chance.

Off in the distance, Rouge noticed something shine and sparkle. She flew straight towards it without her companion's consent and never looked back.

"Rouge!" Venus hurried after the treasure hunter.

The object that Rouge flew towards was on the ground under a street light, so she hurried and landed in front of it with a worried Venus catching up to her.

"Why did you fly all the way over here?" Venus asked, panting for breath.

"Don't you see it, Girly? We've found ourselves a Chaos Emerald!" Rouge quickly scooped the green Chaos Emerald into her hands and gazed at it as if it were the first treasure she'd ever laid her eyes on.

Venus squealed and then said delightfully, "We really did it! So we head back to Green Hill Zone now." The Sailor Scout eyed their new finding and wondered how it felt when holding it. So she reached out in the hopes that Rouge would let her have a look at it for a few seconds.

"Sorry, hun. Maybe I'll let you hold it when we get back to the others."

Just as I expected, Venus thought with a childish frown.

Suddenly, yellow lights shined down on the girls and caught them by surprise. They looked up to see where it came from and discovered Eggman's robots.

"Shoot! Eggman's found us!" Rouge then turned her eyes to the jewel in her hand. "And this Chaos Emerald is a fake!"

"To think the world's greatest treasure hunter fell for that trick," Venus retorted with a dead-panned facial expression.

"I'm not sure if I like the way that remark came out," Rouge faced her ally with her hands on her hips.

"Well maybe that's what I meant for it to be!"

Rather than continue arguing, the heroines had to act as the Eggman's minions aimed their guns at them and started letting the bullets fly.

Rouge tossed the fake emerald aside and flew into the sky to take on her aerial enemies. "BOMB SNIPE!"

Venus did the same and readied herself to attack as the Egg Flappers and E-2000s came towards them. "VENUS... LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"

Together, Venus's golden heart and Rouge's Heart Bombs hit their opponents and left an explosion that created spectacular fireworks. Both females gasped and were amazed at what their techniques created; having a pleasant time like this while fighting Eggman's robots was unlike anything they expected.

Once their personal firework show ended, they returned to flying away but were shot down and sent to the metallic ground.

Venus managed to lift her head up and see what it was that'd shot them down like this. It appeared to be Eggman's Egg X, a transportation pod with a red ring and giant arm attached to it. The red ring was lowered down so Venus could see who was inside controlling its machine, and her eyes widened when she found who it was.

"Mikan!"

"How nice to see you again," Mikan smiled evilly, "The stars here in this zone are so beautiful, don't you think? I saw that firework show you and your friend created. Too bad it had to end so soon."

Venus gritted her teeth and balled her fists up.

"You both did well to make it here and destroy my master's robots, but you couldn't manage to find this." Mikan revealed the true green Chaos Emerald.

"No way! Where did you find that?" Venus tried standing to her feet.

By this time, Rouge came to consciousness and noticed one of Eggman's machines floating above them. "Well, if it isn't Egg... huh? You're not Eggman!"

"I'm his trusted servant, Mikan Shiratori."

"As if!" Venus complained, "You're just an imposter of the real Mikan Shiratori with that hideous hair-do!"

The right button was pushed as dozen lasers and spiked balls started coming Venus's way.

"You really know how to push this girl's buttons, don't you, Mina?" Rouge smirked as they dodged every spiked ball and laser beam, "Where did she come from?"

"I don't know and I don't care! But Eggman's going to pay it!" In the midst of being angry and frustrated, Venus found her concentration and put her hands together for a massive attack. "CRESCENT BEAM SHOWER!"

Rouge gawked as she saw the size of these beams of light her comrade was throwing at their foe.

Even Mikan found herself amazed at how much power this Sailor Soldier carried. She sealed the Egg X closed but still took on immense damage, suffering from explosion after explosion.

Venus continuously summoned beams of her planet's beautiful light to throw at Mikan. That's why this ability she was portraying was named Furious Random Crescent Beam Shots. She wouldn't stop until this fake pop star suffered from her vengeance and was obliterated.

Eventually when the beam shots came to a halt, Venus panted for breath from all of the power she'd exerted. Both she and Rouge looked at the place where the Egg X would be once all of the smoke cleared, only to see that it was gone and now in the air trying to fly away.

"She's getting away!" Rouge said as she and Venus ascended after it.

"Not on my watch!" Venus flapped her wings harder than ever before. She was going to make sure this Mikan Shiratori felt her wrath.

* * *

_**-Hill Top Zone-**_

"Worthless consumer models!" Omega watched his bullets fly and hit down each of the Egg Pawns that dared to oppose him. He was the best robot in the entire E-Series and so these other models were nothing to him.

"Omega, behind you!" Mars warned the robot while fighting her own battle.

While Omega hopefully looked back and stopped the robots sneaking up on him, Mars faced the ones surrounding her who all held up their swords to slash her. One by one, they lunged towards her and tried to cut her, but the Soldier of War dodged each attempt and counterattacked with her fire.

"FIRE... SOUL!" This fireball formed from Mars's fingertips went forward and hit the Egg Pawns head on, melting their bodies and weapons away until no more were in her presence. She found herself looking to Omega again and saw that the robot was having some difficulty shooting down all of his foes.

Omega kept at trying to annihilate the Egg Pawns until he saw fire consume them. "Rei!"

Mars returned to Omega's side as all of their foes were defeated. "Eggman is trying his best to get rid of us. Does he always send this many robots?"

"Yes, all of the time. He is a persistent one. Let us not waste anymore time. We must look for the Chaos Emerald."

Mars began to follow after Omega since he was built in with a tracking device that could track down the Chaos Emeralds's energy. From where they were standing, it appeared that the next Chaos Emerald was deep inside Hill Top Zone, specifically in one of its underground caverns. To get to that location, they had to first ride across its vine chair lifts.

Hill Top Zone, a mountainous area high above the clouds, had a natural beauty as it's spaces were wide and vast. Blue-tinted rocks covered its grasses while fresh pine trees stood tall and a gentle breeze came on through. This place seemed just as great as the Mystic Ruins when it came to picnicking, but now wasn't the time to think about that.

"The Chaos Emerald is underground. We must get there by riding this vine chairlift," Omega explained to Mars.

She nodded and was the first to step onto the mentioned transportation. Though as Omega stood on it, its vines started to tear and loosen.

Mars looked up at the ropes then quickly her and Omega jumped back onto safe land. The vines eventually tore apart and sent the chairlift down towards scorching lava. Burning the instant it touched it.

"Our weights combined are too much for these vine chairlifts to carry. Let us go on our own chairlifts."

Mars complied with her comrade and in due time, they reached their destination.

More Egg Pawns came their way as they ventured through the cavern and leapt across its platforms to avoid the lava. Badniks that Eggman designed from long ago also appeared to try and take their foes down; Spikers sent their spiky cones, Rexons shot energy projectiles from their mouths, and Orbinauts threw their spiked balls until they were completely weapon-less.

With his claws configured into Missile Launchers, Omega performed what was recognized as Omega Arm and shot down his enemies by releasing a spiral-like wave of missiles resembling drills. Attack and damage at its maximum.

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!" Mars joined in on this explosive battle as she shot down Egg Pawns and Badniks with her trusty flame arrows.

Multiple explosions filled the insides of the cavern and left it in deep, black smoke. Omega and Mars waited for it to clear away and found that every robot had been taken down, so they turned around to the road ahead of them.

"We should be getting closer to the Chaos Emerald now," Omega told Mars.

The place where he believed the treasure to be was outside the cavern on top of a hill. The highest one in all of Hill Top Zone.

Mars increased her speed and advanced a little bit in front of Omega; for she could already imagine the Chaos Emerald in her sight. Getting through Eggman's robots was no easy task, so what could possibly stop them now?

"GALACTICA TSUNAMI!"

Before Mars could realize it, something thick and light-blue came her way and gripped her by the waist. She discovered it to be someone's hair.

"Rei!" Omega exclaimed as he tried to look for this hair's source and found it under a nearby pine tree, "New target acquisition. Sights locked on: Human female."

While trying to pull and break free, Mars shifted her eyes to the owner of this hair and gasped when she took just one look at their outfit. "I know who you are!"

Aluminum Siren gave a dark smirk and stepped from under the shadows of the pine tree and out into the blazing daylight. "Is that so? Who am I then?"

"One of the girls that Sailor Moon fought a few days ago." Mars winced in pain as the grip around her only became tighter, "She stopped you so you've decided to get your revenge. Well you'll have to get through me!"

"You can't stop me!" Aluminum Siren strengthened her grip around Mars and caused her to cry out. "That cruel Sailor Moon took something away that was very dear to me... it can't be replaced or brought back, so I'm going to make her pay the price!"

* * *

_**-Green Hill-**_

With their task assigned and done, Jupiter and Omochao with the addition of Vector returned to Green Hill.

Vector gently set Jupiter down for her to lay against the soft, cool grass. Her injuries would take forever to heal, but in the meantime she could do this.

Before anyone realized it, they heard footsteps and looked up to find some familiar faces.

"Team mates!" Omochao exclaimed with utmost relief, "You have all returned back with the Chaos Emeralds."

"Guys!" Jupiter tried to get up from the ground, but she found herself only having enough energy to sit up.

"Jupiter!" Mini Moon cried and rushed over to the older heroine's side. "What happened to you?"

"Shadow? Knuckles?" Vector said with a surprised tone, "What are you guys doin' here?"

"As you can see, we're gathering the Chaos Emeralds before Eggman does," Shadow answered Vector's question.

"Omochao and I just had some trouble with one of Eggman's robots and they gave me a pretty good beating," Jupiter explained to Mini Moon.

"Tuxedo Mask! Please heal Jupiter's injuries," Mini Moon begged the masked man.

Tuxedo Mask nodded and in no time soon, summoned his Sailor Crystal and used its special properties to have green energy engulf her body and make the bruises disappear.

Even while this was going on, everyone noticed something different about Neptune and Uranus's appearances, so they briefly explained to them how they received these new outfits plus the angel wings and more power.

Now, Jupiter could feel her strength and stamina return to her body. Neptune and Uranus took the girl by her hand and helped her stand to her feet, then looked to Vector and wondered who he was.

"Would you happen to be another one of Sonic's friends?" Neptune asked the crocodile.

"Yeah, that's right. The name's Vector the Crocodile, leader of the Chaotix Detective Agency. So you guys know Lita too, huh?"

"She's our ally."

After a series of explanations, Vector was informed of the Sailor Scouts, how Sonic met them, how Sonic Moon was formed, and the situations they were faced with.

"Well, if you need a helpin' hand, then my boys and I could join your team. Where is Sonic right now?"

"He's heading towards the Egg Carrier to rescue Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Sailor went alone to chase after someone who snatched the Chaos Emerald from them, so he asked us to accompany him. But we wanted to reunite with all of you here so Shadow could teleport us to the Egg Carrier together," Pluto explained to Vector.

"Sonic and Serena are free?" Omochao asked, "Thank goodness!"

Mini Moon felt tears almost lining on the rims of her eyes. Her future-mother and best friend was freed from G.U.N.'s clutches, on her way to help the save day now. She looked up to Tuxedo Mask to see that he was very happy to hear of his future-wife's freedom too.

"I'm so glad they're alright," Neptune sighed with relief.

"Not to change the subject, but Uranus, who is this girl next to Knuckles?" Pluto asked her comrade.

"She's someone we found while inside Marble Zone."

"A new friend," Neptune smiled at Chuuko, "After this battle with Eggman is over, we've decided to take her back with us to Crossroads City and find a place for her to stay."

Chuuko looked back at all of the eyes who were on her and mustered an uneasy smile. A smile nonetheless.

"With only us back here, that means we have only four of the Chaos Emeralds. Mars and Venus haven't found the other two yet," Shadow confirmed amongst his friends, "Something's has to be wrong if they're not back here by now, so we should contact them."

"Agreed."

Tuxedo Mask pulled up his sleeve to activate his communicator and call Venus, while, Jupiter chose to contact Mars afterwards.

"Venus? Can you hear me?"

Venus looked down from the sky and at her wristwatch. "Tuxedo Mask?"

"Where are you and Rouge right now?"

"We're chasing after Mikan!"

"Were you able to find the Chaos Emerald?"

"No, she took it!"

Rouge noticed Venus talking to someone through her communicator and made an interjection. "Hi there! Did you and Rini find a Chaos Emerald yet?"

"Yes. We're here in Green Hill Zone with everyone else. Mars and Omega haven't returned from Hill Top Zone, Tails and his team went inside Eggman's airship, so we were going to teleport there and rescue them. Also, Sailor Moon and Sonic escaped from G.U.N. and are helping us with the rescue."

"They broke free?" Rouge put on a grin, "That's our Sonic!"

"Yes!" Venus cried with newfound excitement, close the verge of crying, "Tuxedo Mask! We'll see you guys there on Eggman's airship soon!"

"Alright."

Jupiter turned on her communicator and heard Mars fighting someone. "Mars? Can you hear me?"

Mars heard a familiar voice calling her so she jumped back to avoid Aluminum Siren's fist and returned the call. "Jupiter! Did you and Omochao already find a Chaos Emerald?"

"Yeah, we're back here in Green Hill Zone with some of our other allies." Jupiter ended up explaining the whereabouts to Tails and Venus's team, worrying Mars but assuring her that help was on the way, and also that Sonic and Sailor Moon were okay.

"Thank goodness." Being distracted by Sailor Moon almost cost Mars, but she dodged her foe's kick and counter-attacked with her own firepower.

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"

Aluminum Siren didn't notice this attack in time though was still able to put her bracelets up and defend herself. She winced in fear as Mars's arrow kept penetrating her bracelets. For much longer she could bear with it was a mystery.

Mars and Omega watched this climatic scene without making a move.

No one had expected the arrow to stay alive and act like this. Aluminum Siren did her best to push forward and knock this weapon away, but soon...

"NO!" In the instant that her accessories shattered and disappeared, she let out an agonizing scream and exploded from the inside out.

Mars uncovered her eyes once the smoke from the explosion cleared and was surprised to see a pile of red Mars dust, much like the same dust that appeared whenever her leader took someone down with their magical tiara.

"Mission completed!" came Omega's robotic voice.

Even with accomplishment and success, Mars couldn't help but think back to that day out in the fields outside of Crossroads City. Sailor Moon had been troubled over something... something that involved their enemies and how one behaved over almost losing the other.

_"There's a logical reason why they're like this... the way they act when their friends get injured... reminds me of how one of us would act. They care for each other the same way I care for all of you."_

Omega wasn't sure why, but his partner stood silent for some passing moments until the Mars dust was kicked up by the wind and blown away.

"Rei. The Chaos Emerald is on top of that hill over there."

Mars woke up from her thoughts and looked to where Omega pointed to.

"The others called you through the communicator just a while ago?" Omega asked Mars as they began to walk.

"Yeah. They've found the other Chaos Emeralds and are back at Green Hill Zone. They're waiting for us to meet them so we can all get on board Eggman's ship."

"Eggman?" Immediately, Omega felt a reason to be angry and clenched his fist. "Where is the airship?"

"Jupiter didn't give any details. Tails and his team went onto Eggman's ship to take back one of the Chaos Emeralds, but they're in danger, so we're going to go save them."

"So instead of meeting everyone in Green Hill Zone, we will see them on the deck of Eggman's ship?"

"Yeah, that way seems best."

Omega felt rejuvenated as the desire to take revenge on Eggman was restored. "Do not worry. I will track down Eggman's ship with the technology he built in me."

* * *

_**-Sky Deck-**_

Cream ran with all of the might her tiny body exerted. Sounds of cannons filled the air as the rabbit child and her colleagues ran across the walkway. For nothing could they take a breath or pause because the cannons were destroying bits of ship behind them. Climbing up ladders and speeding down the ramps was only harder as a few straggling chopper bots chased after the heroes.

"We're almost there, guys!" When everyone reached the end of the walkway and stepped onto a ramp, Tails spun around and threw a couple of Fake Rings at the chopper bots.

Amy would've helped the fox by unleashing Storming Hearts, but it wasn't necessary.

Everyone panted and were weary after experiencing something like the Sky Deck. Along with needing a break to breathe, they needed medical attention to heal their scratches and wounds. To think what Vanilla would say when she saw her precious little angels covered in these things.

Tails and the others stepped up to a switch that carried a rocket behind it. He pressed the switch without hesitating and together with his friends, watched the rocket destroy a cannon's barrel.

"We're like, awesome!" Amy managed to smile. "Where do we go from here?"

Before Amy could answer, the whole area began to shake and it almost caused everyone to lose their balance.

Tails learned what the cause of this could be and shared it with his allies.

"Then that means we'll be able to reach the center of this ship and face Eggman?" asked Mercury.

"Yeah." Tails looked around at his allies, specifically his smaller friends. There was never a time when they were covered in wounds like they were now. It just wasn't right, but they'd pushed past their fears. They truly were three of the Sonic Heroes. But still...

"Amy."

Amy looked up curiously to see what Tails wanted. She waited for the fox's statement even though it took some time for him to formulate it.

"... I just want you all to know, that I'm very sorry."

"Huh? Sorry about what?" Amy asked worriedly.

"If I had acted faster in finding the Chaos Emerald, then we wouldn't be here right now. I put you all through something that was more than you could handle. We made it through the Sky Deck miraculously, but your lives were still put in danger." Tears started to form in Tails's eyes." I-I don't know what I would do if I lost any of you. You're all very dear and important to me."

In the midst of their injuries, everyone found themselves beginning to weep at what Tails was saying. They're hearts opened and their arms spread out to pull each other into touching embraces.

"Tails is right. My life wouldn't be the same if even just one of you weren't in it." Amy sniffled as a tear rolled down her cheek. "You guys are my closest friends."

Mercury looked to Tails and began admiring him. Even for the intelligent, reserved fox he was, he still wasn't afraid to show his emotions. In a way it was sort of cute.

"Tails... I'm very glad that we met. Ever since my friends and I have met you all, we've had a taste of what it's really like to learn to look past our differences and come to grow like a family. That's what we are now."

Mercury couldn't think to say more as she noticed Tails let of a quiet sob and walk up to her. She thought it smart to kneel down and embrace him. So she did, and the caring child buried his face into her chest to keep sobbing. From that point on, no one spoke a word but continued crying against each other.

They had taken great risks and put their lives on the line. Tails knew the danger they were entering wouldn't be a walk in the park. But he tried to be strong. That's what would help them through this adventure. It's what Sonic would've wanted.

"Sonic..." Tails lifted his wet face from Mercury's chest and thought about the Blue Blur. Suddenly, when enough time passed, he found a determined smile and put it on his lips. "I've changed a lot since I started hanging out with him... but I can't depend on him forever. I know I can do this by myself!"

Soon Amy, Cream, and Cheese stopped crying as if they were attracted to what Tails said. They found a reason to be confident themselves and ignored the pains they were feeling.

"He wouldn't want us to sit here crying. He would want us to keep going!" Tails continued.

"Yeah!" Amy agreed bravely.

Cream and Mercury both smiled as they felt the encouragement themselves. Cheese felt it best to hover over to Tails and give him a hug with his little arms, hearing a series of "awws" from the girls.

"That was so adorable!" Amy smiled sweetly.

"Thanks, Cheese." Tails petted the Chao's head then turned his eyes back to the spot where the cannon barrel used to be. He was certain that his allies had their eyes on it too.

"Tails. We will make it out of this alive." Mercury sucked in a breath and spread her wings.

* * *

_**-Egg Carrier Deck-**_

"Master. Our enemies are chasing me towards your airship."

"Good. Keep leading them towards it then escape and come back to the Control Room with the Chaos Emerald."

Mikan ended the call with Eggman and continued flying away from Rouge and Venus. The Egg X was in no condition to keep fleeing since Venus gave it so much damage, but she had no choice.

Another beam of light hit Mikan and almost knocked her off the path she was taking. "You foolish little girl!"

As if Venus would care if she upset this poser. She could've kept blasting Mikan down with Crescent Beams, but instead she decided to end their fight once and for all.

"VENUS... LOVE ME... CHAIN!"

This chain of golden hearts went forth and wrapped around the Egg X, placing a tight bond on it for Venus to impede and bring it back towards her.

Mikan growled in anger and did her best to push whatever button would help her accelerate further towards the Egg Carrier. It was far away but still in plain sight.

"You're not going anywhere, missy!" Rouge flew over to the Egg X's door, and with a swift kick, busted it open to see a frustrated Mikan. "Give me that emerald!"

"No!" Mikan jerked and wrestled as a means not to let the green treasure slip out of her hands.

Venus never let go of the Egg X as she discovered her ally had flown up to it to obtain the Chaos Emerald. This chain of hers was their only hope.

"Step aside!"

Rouge and Venus's eyes popped out of their heads as they recognized this mechanized voice. They both looked to the right and saw a volley of missiles come towards the Egg X to obliterate it.

Mikan watched Rouge hurry out of the transporter and laughed at her action. "Good girl." Nothing else could be said though as the missiles hit Mikan and left a furious explosion. The android was sent high into the sky in the opposite direction of the Egg Carrier, coming out black and charred thanks to the explosion. She yelled out, "Master!" and her voice echoed until she couldn't be seen anymore.

"All right!" Venus cheered by holding up a peace sign, "I'm so glad we got her out of our hair."

Rouge felt victorious as well but she wanted to see who had helped them and Omega and Mars hovering over to them. "Omega! Nice going with those missiles!"

"Mars!" Venus flew over to her dark-haired friend and pulled her into a hug, "Thank you guys for coming when you did."

"We're only helping our friends out," Mars flashed a tiny smile, "Omega and I just found this purple Chaos Emerald. Did you guys ever track down yours?"

Venus and Rouge looked to each other dumbly, then realized where the green Chaos Emerald could possibly... be right now.

"Mina! You didn't think to grab the emerald before it fell?"

"Me? You were the one who was closer to it! Why didn't you get it?"

"Grrr!" Rouge moved away from this heated argument and began flying downward to search for the emerald, "I'll get it! You guys meet everyone else up on the Egg Carrier!"

Venus felt some irritation for the way she was spoken to just now, but there wasn't any time for nonsense. Mercury and the others needed rescuing. "C'mon, guys! Mercury and the others need us!"

* * *

_**-Egg Carrier-**_

At a high speed, Venus, Mars, and Omega started towards their set destination. Omega led the way and with the Sailor Scouts behind him and found the rest of Sonic Moon already waiting for them on the Forward Deck.

"Sonic! Sailor Moon!" Venus ran up to these two and embraced them with tears rimming her eyes. They fell down her face when she looked at Sailor Moon and Mars behaved the same way.

Sailor Moon cried herself for being reunited with her best friends. She'd already shared embraces and relieved words with everyone else, introduced herself to Vector and Chuuko, but Mars was so glad to have her back.

"How did you guys escape from G.U.N.?" The Fire Soldier asked her leader.

"We broke the door down."

Sweatdrops formed on everyone's heads as they heard this response.

"Well... Shadow did say Sonic had a way to get out even if it was that simple," Jupiter tried to rationalize Sailor Moon's explanation.

"We need to hurry and find Mercury and the others," interjected Uranus. This warrior and Neptune were ready to take off with their new wings and take on whatever forces Eggman brought their way.

The others considered her words and also started towards the center of the Egg Carrier, but a series of E-Robots appeared from out of nowhere and began assaulting them. Bullets, lasers, bombs galore among the Egg Carrier now.

Mini Moon almost lost her focus and jumped back as she hadn't expected to be ambushed like this.

"Eggman set us up!" Knuckles yelled out to everyone, "Sonic! Sailor Moon! You two go after Tails and the others! We'll take care of things here!"

The rest of Sonic Moon also looked to their leaders while dealing with persistent Egg Pawns. They were the only ones who could go on ahead and take care of Eggman at this point.

Sonic smiled at his red rival while Sailor Moon smiled at her allies and thanked them in her heart for being there for her.

"Thank you, everyone." And with that, she and Sonic took off for their nemesis.

* * *

_**-Final Egg-**_

Once again, Tails and the gang had given this battle all they had and passed Final Egg's challenges, until they were at the core of the Egg Carrier and standing on a vertical shaft of some sort. They looked around the room with expectations of Eggman or one of his followers coming into view, however the Egg Viper arrived instead.

"Ohoho!"

Cream gasped when she realized who was piloting this armoured creature. She and Cheese backed away in fear behind Amy who still held her hammer.

"If it isn't Fox Boy and his usual batch of friends, along with Miss Blue Hair. I must say, I'm impressed that all of you made it this far. But just look at you! You're too wounded and injured to fight! How could you possibly expect to defeat me?"

"Because we have each other!" Mercury argued courageously, "We know our limits! If passing them means finally putting your rampage to an end, then by all means, we'll go the distance!"

"That's right Eggman! You can't underestimate us anymore! We've grown a lot since the battle in Final Fortress!" Amy added this input.

"Cheese and I aren't afraid of you, Doctor Eggman! Our friends are here to help us now, so you're going to be really sorry!"

"Chao chao chao chao chao!"

Eggman could only let out evil laughter as a response to what these young heroes said. "Enough of this nonsense!" Without further ado, he hurled a couple of spiked disks at his challengers and watched them all barely move out of the way.

Amy sent Storming Hearts at the Egg Viper but it didn't give that much damage, let alone scrape or leave any kind of mark on its armor.

"Muhahahaha!" Eggman moved again and sent crackling balls of blue plasma at the platforms his foes were standing on.

"Ah!" Amy felt herself almost slip off and fall, but Tails caught her by the hand and helped the hedgehog regain her footing.

Mercury quickly touched one of her earrings and the VR Visor appeared over her eyes. It beeped and purposefully showed her the Egg Viper's weak point. "I got it! Everyone, this robot's weak point is its cockpit!"

"Alright!" Tails found the perfect opportunity and lunged towards Eggman, then began to spin and lash his twin tails out on the cockpit.

"Hey!" Eggman could see Tails's rapid attack beginning to form cracks in the glass. he snatched him with Egg Viper's Tail and threw him back onto the shaft. "Hmph! Looks like I'll have to heat things up!"

Before anyone realized it, Eggman began destroying the floors around them until there was only one square left and no where else to run.

"Oh no!" Amy cried with fear.

Eggman grinned a cheesy but darkish grin as he aimed his laser at his enemies. He saw how much of a harsh dilemma he'd put them in, so he decided to take his time.

"Any last words?"

"Yeah!"

Eggman including the heroes turned to the sound of this voice... being so ungrateful or grateful for it. Those blue ears and green eyes couldn't have belonged to anyone else but...

"SONIC!"

Eggman smirked rather than be upset at his enemies' arrival.

"Sonic!" Amy cried fresh tears as she saw Sailor Moon carrying the blue hedgehog towards them. Her hero...

"Sailor Moon!" Mercury exclaimed joyously, weeping with happiness as the heroine landed in front of them.

"Sonic!" Tails cried into the hedgehog's shoulder uncontrollably, along with the rest of their Mobian friends, "Sonic... we tried to do this on our own, but-"

Sonic paused his friend from finishing his words by laying a hand on his shoulder and simply smiling at him. His eyes spoke with so much warmth and care that Tails realized he already knew what he was going to say. So he hushed himself and let the hedgehog face Eggman.

Having shown his reaction, Eggman parted his lips. "I already knew you would come here and try to save your friends. But it won't do you any good, hedgehog."

"Heh..." Sonic folded his arms, "Egghead, we already know about your idea of reviving the Eggsterminator and capturing the Sailor Scouts. I've taken it down before, so I'll do it again. How many of your toys do I have to break before you get it?"

"You knowing about my plans doesn't change a thing. I still hold one of the Chaos Emeralds and that's all it needs to put an end to you."

"You sure about that?" Sonic looked to Sailor Moon and she revealed the white Chaos Emerald before everyone's eyes, watching it give off its awesome glow.

"What?" Eggman's eyes almost came out of his head when he saw this. "No! That's not possible! How did you take down Metal Sonic so easily?"

"I've fought him long enough to figure out his tricks," Sonic wore an arrogant grin, "So that means I've figured out your tricks too. What you just tried today isn't gonna cut it."

Eggman gritted his teeth until his face turned red like a beet and he pulled out an interesting switch and set his finger above it. "Is that right, Sonic? Maybe you have figured out all of my tricks, but in the end everything will backfire on you! I shall have the last laugh!" Soon enough, Eggman pressed the switch and the room started rumbling as if there'd been an earthquake.

Sonic and his allies looked around in wonder of what this was, then Tails realized it and hurriedly moved to escape.

"No! Eggman's activated a self-destruction device!"

"What?" panicked Amy.

"We have to hurry before this whole place blows up!"

* * *

_**-Egg Carrier Deck-**_

Knuckles and the other heroes did as they assured their leaders. Though ever since the whole Egg Carrier had began shaking, different E-Series Robots realized what was happening and consecutively ran away from fighting to escape.

"Hey! Where did this shaking come from?" asked Venus.

"Eggman's activated some kind of self-destruction device!" Vector told everyone.

"That Egghead! He can't be serious." Knuckles joined his comrades in escaping until he realized there was something missing. "Wait! What about Sonic and the others?"

"They'll be fine! Big Blue and Moon have this one!" Rouge assured the echidna.

Different spots on the Egg Carrier began to deteriorate and fall apart as explosions didn't stop. Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun never expected their creator to do something like this.

"What is the Doctor thinking? Doesn't he know that the three of us are still on board this ship?" Bocoe cried as he and his friends ran to the Foward Deck themselves.

"I don't know what he was thinking, but we can't let ourselves be destroyed with it!" Decoe carried his legs with all the strength Eggman built into him until they reached the ledge and found Sonic's friends flying away. "Shadow! Rouge!"

Shadow growled like a ferocious lion. at the sound of this voice while Rouge did the same and a comical vein showed on her face. Eggman's lackeys were the last people they wanted to see right now.

"What do you three want?" asked Shadow.

"Please! We need a way to get off of this ship too! We didn't know Eggman would go this far to destroy Sonic!"

As seconds passed, the Egg Carrier was still breaking down, parts of armored hull and and cannons coming off. This decision Eggman made...

"Look, guys! As you can see, we're trying to get away too! Why should we help you when you're our enemies?" asked a peeved Knuckles.

"If you guys help us get out of here, w-we promise we'll be good! Honest!" Bokkun answered desperately.

Bocoe and Decoe shook their heads, "Yes" as if to help back up Bokkun's statement.

"Yes! We really will! We vow to never help Eggman again! We'll be heroes like all of you!"

No one seemed to believe the robotic trio with their promises. Though a voice told Neptune to reveal and hold her Deep Aqua Mirror with the free hand she had and point it at them. With her comrades watching her, she told them that Eggman's lackeys spoke the truth and they would stick by their words until forevermore.

"Fine." Knuckles, being held by Pluto, watched Omega grab Bocoe and Uranus save Decoe. Bokkun thankfully didn't need any help because of the jet boosters that were always built into his back.

Sonic and Sailor Moon did help their friends to get off the Egg Carrier before getting taken by its massive explosion. Metal Sonic, who had been broken apart and defeated miserably, was left aboard the Egg Carrier when this occurred. Eggman? No one knew where this villain ended up.

* * *

_**-Green Hill-**_

Tails thought it to be funny in a strange sort of way, but all of Sonic Moon went back to Green Hill with all seven Chaos Emeralds just as he had originally planned, meeting by the X-Tornado that Tails had to park next to Rouge, Amy, and Tuxedo Mask's vehicles.

Tuxedo Mask used his healing powers once more to restore Tails, Mercury, Amy, Cream, and Cheese to their normal states.

The Eggsterminator did manage to arrive and acted to fight Sonic, but he, Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails all harnessed the Chaos Energy and became super to defeat it. It'd been just as Sonic told Eggman before.

With their adventure finally brought to an end, Sonic turned to his friends with the best toothed grin on his face. "We did it, guys!"

"Yeah!" Cream rose a fist and cheered, "Mr. Sonic. We're sorry for worrying you and Miss Serena before. We just tried to be heroes too."

Sonic and Sailor Moon walked up to Vanilla's daughter and stood in front of her.

"It wasn't wrong for you to try to be a good guy. But you can't do that when you're facing something you're not ready for," Sonic spoke softly to the child, "Promise us that you, Cheese, and Amy won't ever try anything like that again."

"Okay."

From where she was standing, Buttress grabbed her fan with both hands and angrily snapped it into two. She couldn't believe that her master's subordinates failed again like this. Tin Nyanko was defeated, Aluminum Siren was destroyed, and Iron Mouse's true self was restored, so that white-haired girl would definitely be of no more use to the Shadow Galactica. It was hopeless!

"Sailor Buttress." Galaxia appeared beside Buttress and surprised the soldier with her presence.

"Master Galaxia!" Buttress put away her surprise and turned her eyes to the scene down below. "As you can see, the Princess and her friends have taken care of your servants and now they obtained all of these things that are called Chaos Emeralds. What a waste of time it was to put our hopes into them."

Galaxia eyed each hero until her sights landed on the one with the blue fur and toothed smile. Her breath almost got caught in her throat as she noticed him. "That hedgehog!" A flashback of the past came to mind.

"Master Galaxia. You seem to recognize that creature with the blue ears."

Galaxia regained her composure and cracked a sly grin. "That creature is the same one that turned down my offer when I visited his world during the Silver Millenium. He could have served as my right-hand man."

Instantly, Buttress felt anger and jealousy towards this hedgehog. All the soldier saw was red and she felt the urge to run up to Sonic and crush him. Tear him to pieces until he was nothing more but a filthy animal laying in his own blood. Make him wish that he didn't dare oppose the Shadow Galactica or give her master the thought of thinking to recruit him. But there was a time and place for everything.

If Buttress killed Sonic now, then she might receive punishment from Galaxia in case the gold soldier planned on using him for some new strategy. Besides that, his pathetic friends would only get in the way. When she finally gave the World's Fastest Hedgehog judgment, it would have to be precise and perfect.

"Sailor Buttress." Galaxia woke the woman up from her trance, "Retrieve Sailor Tin Nyanko and remove her bracelets. Sailor Iron Mouse is not of my concern anymore."

Buttress nodded to her leader's wishes and stayed silent to hear more.

"After that, summon Sailor Titanium Frog."

* * *

_**-Serena's House-**_

Dinner inside the Tsukino residence was oh so quiet tonight. Kenji and Ikuko gave their daughter permission to invite a friend over for dinner, but they weren't expecting her to bring someone who was anthropomorphic and talked like a human being.

Everyone's eyes were on Sonic as they watched him eat his food. They honestly expected him to eat like the wild animal he appeared to be and not use utensils, but he portrayed decent eating manners and even wiped his mouth with the napkin when necessary.

Sitting on both opposite ends of their table, Serena's parents kept eyeing each other then looking back to Sonic. They still were learning to accept what they were seeing right now. They'd fainted at the sight of Sonic when they met him at the front door. He was a talking animal for crying out loud!

After poking his fork into his steak and taking the bite, Sonic noticed the weird stares he was receiving and began to feel uncomfortable. "Uhh..."

Serena saw the facial expressions and decided to break the silence for Sonic's sake. "So... how is everyone?" She looked around the table at everyone who was there. Her parents. Her brother, Sammy. Sonic. Rini.

Sonic mentally thanked Serena for her efforts. He set his fork down and sent a friendly smile Ikuko's way. "Mrs. Tsukino. I have to say, this steak and mashed potatoes you made are delicious."

"Why thank you, Sonic! You can have more if you like."

Kenji watched his wife hand the bowl of mashed potatoes over to Serena so that Sonic could dish more out onto his plate. So now that the silence amongst the table had been broken, the father took upon himself to ask his daughter's friend a few things. "So, Sonic. How did you and Serena meet each other?"

"Uh.. well... her friend Rei let me stay at the Hikawa Shrine to help out a Shinto Trainee. Serena and her other friends went over there and introduced themselves, so we've been good friends ever since."

Kenji nodded to Sonic's response and swallowed the piece of steak he'd bitten into. "Where were you born?"

"South Island. One of the small islands that aren't so far from here."

"Honey! That's where I wanted to go vacation with you on our next boat cruise trip," Ikuko remembered excitedly then looked to Sonic, "That must be a beautiful island to be born from. I've heard they have all kinds of exotic fruits."

"Yeah. Heh heh. It's got the whole package," Sonic rubbed the back of his head nervously.

Kenji took some time to think of what he would want to say next. So far, this Sonic character seemed honest and meant well, but Kenji was overprotective of his children. "What do you like doing for fun, Sonic?"

"I like break-dancing, rock music, peace and serenity, kart-racing, kicking back and relaxing."

"That's interesting," said Ikuko, "Who have you ever kart-raced with?"

"Just my other friends."

"Kenji looked to Serena then back to Sonic. "Where do you like to relax?"

"Anywhere that feels peaceful and quiet. Forests, islands, fields."

A few quiet moments passed as everyone continued eating their food. Serena's parents were pleased with the different things they'd heard about Sonic so far. But Kenji still felt a tad bit awkward.

"You know, Sonic also loves chili dogs," Rini mentioned this interest.

"Oh," replied Ikuko, "Is that so? I was thinking about buying some chili to make that dish. Maybe you could come again when I make that for dinner."

"Sounds good," Sonic smiled at the mother.

"Sonic. Do you have any siblings?" Kenji asked the hedgehog.

"No, but I think of my friends that way."

"No parents? No guardian?"

Sonic nervously shook his head, "No," to both of these questions. He could begin to sense Kenji's emotions.

The father was almost at a loss of words now. He couldn't seem to think of anything else to ask this furry individual. Why was it so hard?

"Where did you get your sneakers from?" Sammy started a new topic as he pointed at Sonic's shoes from his side of the table.

Sonic appeared to have a hard time coming up with the answer to this query, as if he tried to remember something but the memories didn't manifest so easily. "... I think one of my old friends made them for me. Yeah..."

Everyone looked at Sonic strangely as he responded like this.

"Hmm..." Kenji thought out loud, "Well that's fine. You're welcome to come here and see Serena any time you like. As long as you help keep her away from sweets and focused on school, you're alright in my book."

"Hey!" Serena did not approve of this remark at all. "What's that supposed to mean, Dad?"

"Well, the other boy you brought here seemed like he meant well, but I'm afraid that you seeing him so much might not be good for you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Talk to a guy who's more like this one right here."

Serena and Sonic's cheeks heated up when Kenji mentioned him like this.

"Someone who's more outgoing and busy-bodied. We don't know anything about that Darien guy."

"Only because he's busy with work and school. You and Mom know that!"

"Serena. Honey. Could we talk about this some other time and not when we have a guest?"

Both Kenji and Serena hushed themselves to respecy Ikuko's wishes. Then, after dinner was eaten and Ikuko began washing everyone's dishes, Serena and Rini led Sonic upstairs to their room to get settled for the night.

"Sonic, I'm sorry for the way my dad was acting."

"No, it's fine. He's just being a dad." Sonic took a seat on Serena's chair by her desk while she and Rini opened their drawers to look for pajamas to wear. He looked around their room and found it to be extremely pink and furnished with magazines and plushies. Amy would probably love this room if she saw it, but also be upset when she found out Sonic was spending the night with two other females besides her.

First, Rini went in the bathroom to change into her pajamas, so Serena sat on her bed and waited. She let out a small sigh and noticed Sonic. She happened to see worry in his eyes. "Sonic?"

The hedgehog looked up as he was snapped out of his trance. "Huh? Oh, sorry. My mind was somewhere else just now."

"Yeah. I could see that," Serena grew concerned for her blue friend.

The sound of the door opening and Rini re-entering the room interrupted Serena before she could reply to Sonic again.

"Serena, why doesn't your dad like Darien?" Rini asked her future-mother.

"I dunno, kiddo. I wish I knew why too." Serena grabbed her pajamas and told Sonic she would be back soon and left the room instantly.

Kenji entered the room and handed Sonic an extra pillow and blanket and told him he could lay it out on Serena's soft carpet to sleep for the night.

"T-thanks..."

Sonic couldn't help but feel that Serena's dad still was mistrusting of him. Either that or he wanted to keep his eyes on him the entire time he left the room just because he wanted to. But there wasn't time to be dwelling on that.

Sonic began spreading out his quilt after the paranoid Kenji left and laid on it with his arms behind his head. These blankets and this atmosphere felt relaxing to him. He closed his eyes and began to think back to what Sammy asked him back at the dinner table...

* * *

_**-Red Canyon-**_

Stars lit up the whole sky in Red Canyon. One would want to go here if they liked stargazing , loved seeing the breathtaking waterfalls, or enjoyed rock-climbing. The choice was theirs. But one person was here for a different reason. Unintentionally.

Having landed on his back and been unconscious on the ground for so many hours, Eggman's eyelids underneath his glasses finally opened and he learned where he was. "Red Canyon? Hmm... my airship must have been hovering over this location when it blew up." The doctor got up to his feet and looked up at the glittering sky.

The Egg Carrier had exploded while in the air with its pieces flying into different directions. Meaning Sonic and his friends were destroyed as well, or at least that was the state he hoped to leave them in. "No matter. I will just come up with another scheme to get rid of them."

Eggman moved his right leg to take the first step into this plan he was proposing, only to be halted by a heart-shaped staff and find its owner pointing it at him with a seriousness.

...

...

Yes... he recognized this girl.

...

...

Pluto stood there with the wind swaying her hair and her weapon almost touching his fat, pink nose. Her expression never changed while his stayed calm as well. She lowered her staff back to her side and parted her lips. "I've finally found you." From subspace, Pluto revealed a golden key that bore a chain and kept it in her hand.

"What do you plan on doing with that?"

Pluto sensed Eggman's arrogance and found herself wearing a small frown. "I'm going to use it to send you to the fourth dimension. Once there, you won't be able to return to this time unless I re-open the Space-Time Door for you."

"For what consequence?" Eggman cracked a grin.

"It'd be best not to play foolish with the Guardian of the Space-Time Door. You're aware of the crimes you've committed. Your judgement in inevitable."

"Child, I'm afraid you don't know who you're dealing with. My intellect is above super genius in all variants of science. I've had a lot of experience with traveling dimensions and know how to hop from one to the other easily. So it'd be best not to play foolish with the greatest scientific genius. You're aware that time rips can't be mended back together so quickly. Your ideals aren't realistic."

"We shall see about that." Pluto raised the Space-Time Key above her head and called upon the Space-Time Door to open a portal for her. She watched Eggman stand still and allow himself to be taken by its glowing blue light. Even if he wasn't afraid of getting sent to the fourth dimension to live out the rest of his days, Pluto would still make sure to serve punishment.

In truth, it was a taboo to use the Space-Time Key. Rini had called on the Time Guardian whenever she brought Tuxedo Mask or the Sailor Scouts with her to the 30th Century, but her mother seemed to be alright with that. And so it was the same for Pluto's situation.

* * *

_**-Serena's Room-**_

Rini laid sound asleep on Serena's bed. The little hero had a long day and deserved some well-needed rest. Serena, on the other hand, chose to stay up as she had began having a discussion with Sonic. They both rested on their sides but each looked in different directions while they talked.

"What was bothering you earlier?" Serena asked gently.

"That question Sammy asked before. I'd never bothered to remember where I got my shoes from."

"Well who do you know that makes shoes?"

"I dunno... nah, what am I worrying about? They're just shoes, right?"

Serena wanted to agree with Sonic on this, but her heart felt the desire to think for more.

"Besides, there was something else I wanted to talk about," Sonic brought up a new subject.

"What was that?"

"Today's showdown with Eggman."

Serena almost shivered at the mention of this name. She was reminded of the last action he took earlier and listened for what Sonic had to say next.

"He's pulled dozens of outrageous schemes before, but they were never anything like what he did today."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Sonic thought back to the moment Eggman pressed that self-destruction switch. "I knew he wanted to defeat me, but I didn't think he would take things this far if it meant killing himself."

Serena couldn't think of anything to say about this situation. There had only been a few times where she felt sympathy for her foes. She noticed Sonic finally look over to her with a dispirited expression.

"... I don't know, Sonic. Maybe he's gone insane."

* * *

_**-Mina's House-**_

A sigh escaped Amy's lips as she stared at the crescent moon through Mina's bedroom window. Now that she'd met Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Scouts, she'd learned a lot more about this place. Rather than being just Earth's satellite that lit up the sky at night, it was a home and kingdom to the Moon Princess, her mother, Queen Serenity, and their loved friends and family. And from how Luna had described it, the Moon Kingdom so beautiful.

"All this time, Serena was a princess. But she told me the Moon Kingdom was ambushed and destroyed when Queen Beryl came into the picture. If just for one day, I wish I could see what it was like."

Suddenly, as if by fate, Amy started hearing some tapping against the window and found Shadow to be in front of it. "Shadow!" Amy opened the window and let the hedgehog in, seeing as Mina wasn't around.

He looked around the room he was in and identified it to really match Mina's personality. But where was the cheerful girl?

"Oh. Mina went out with Lita and Rei to the mall. They wanted to do some shopping," Amy answered Shadow's query, "Why did you come here?"

"I came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?"

"I'm leaving this dimension to train and grow stronger so that I don't have to keep holding my true power with these." Shadow clarified his explanation by showing Amy his Inhibitor Rings.

She understood his plans but still could not bring herself to seeing him leave like this. "Why can't you stay?"

"I don't want to put this planet's risk on the line. My power may exceed to a level where Earth gets destroyed in the process."

Amy took these words into consideration. "But..." She looked up at Shadow with sadness and hurt in her eyes. He still held that same emotionless look, but Amy knew that deep down he wished he didn't have to actually leave.

"I know this is sudden but it's for the best."

"No! It wouldn't be the same without you here. We would all miss you. Please reconsider, Shadow."

"I've already made my mind up." Shadow turned his back on Amy to leave, though he felt her bury her face into his back and take hold of both his shoulders. So he relaxed his shoulders and kept still.

...

...

"Shadow... there's something I have to admit to you." Amy lifted her face and left her forehead on her friend's back. "... I almost died today."

Shadow made a silent gasp and his eyes widened. His hands started to shake. "What do you mean you almost died?" Shadow turned around and found tears rimming Amy's eyes. "When did this happen? Where were you? Who was trying to kill you? Why didn't you call for help?"

"Earlier, on board the Egg Carrier. Tails, Mercury, Cream, Cheese and I tried to take back the white Chaos Emerald. We knew the Sky Deck would be a tough obstacle, but we tried to stay strong. We didn't think to call anyone at the time because of that."

Shadow heaved out a sigh as he was left speechless.

"... if being pushed close to death has taught me anything, it's that you should always make sure to appreciate everything in your life." A tear came out of Amy's eye and rolled down her cheek. "Because you don't know when you might lose it or when you might disappear."

Amy could see that Shadow was still upset about this confession she'd just made. "I'm so sorry for not telling you about this sooner. You're the only one I've told so far and I'm afraid of what the others will say. Sonic might think different of me and ask me to not go on anymore adventures with them. I'm terribly frightened of that."

...

...

"Shadow! Let's get in the water!"

This day at the beach was so clear in Shadow's mind. Maria and him, visiting the beach before it was time to finally get aboard the ARK so Professor Gerald could continue his studies. Maria had always dreamed of coming to somewhere like this, so she appeared in a one-piece bathing suit while Shadow kicked his shoes off and let his toes touch the sand.

The waves they'd seen this day crashed back and forth against the shore ever so gently. It brought serenity to Shadow's ears, so he followed Maria into the water.

She stepped into it and giggled as she enjoyed swimming in its open waves. Shadow had barely but still completed his swimming lessons, so she was glad for that as well.

Seagulls chirped and the sun blazed down on the world with its golden rays.

"Hey, Shadow! Let's go a little farther out towards the sea!" Maria had kicked her legs and swam closer to the ocean's body, but felt a gloved hand keep her still. "Shadow?" With her innocent eyes, the child had stared at Shadow and waited for him to say something.

"I don't think it's safe to go any further. The Professor was kind enough to provide us with swimming lessons, but he would saddened if he heard that one of us drowned and didn't make it."

"You're right, Shadow. What if something did happened?"

Shadow had blinked confusedly and hoped she would make her argument crystal clear.

"There is the possibility that we could swim out farther and have an accident. But then there's a chance that we could survive and return to my grandfather in one piece. We'll never know unless we try." Maria saw that she astonished Shadow with her words. "I may not be a professional swimmer like Esther Williams or Samantha Rice, but I have confidence just like them, and you by my side to save me," Maria flashed a sweet smile. "So do you understand, Shadow?"

Maria's friend had replied with a small smile and nodded, "Yes."

"Good."

...

...

Shadow would always remember that day and the one he'd spent it with...

...

...

"Don't be." Shadow stepped away from Amy to look for a tissue box. Thankfully, he found one sitting on Mina's desk and came back with a few tissues for Amy to use.

She wiped her tears and blew her nose while Shadow watched closely, his eyes unexpectedly glossed with care and concern.

"You may be young, but that doesn't mean you're not incapable of accompanying Sonic. There have been many times where you proved yourself. You just have to know what your limits are."

Amy's eyes fell down onto Shadow's bracelets as she heard him speaking about limits. It began to make sense. "Like you and your Inhibitor Rings?"

Shadow looked down at his accessories as well. "Yes. That's one way you can look at it."

As the hedgehogs' conversation grew silent, Shadow could feel his heart beginning to tug and keep him from leaving. He wanted to stay with Amy now.

With her tears dried up and her confidence regained, Amy parted her lips again. "Well... you should probably get going now. Good luck with your training." Amy put on a smile and stuck her hand out for Shadow to take it.

Shadow awkwardly stretched his own hand out. He couldn't see himself doing this, but her smile and gesture were so welcoming. Her expression looked so kind and genuine.

...

...

A door was opened and stopped the hedgehogs' hands from almost touching. They gasped at the sight of the person who let themselves.

"Amy? Shadow? Both alone in my room?" A playful smirk found its way onto Mina's lips.

Blushing a dark red, Shadow turned on his heel and hurried for the window. He heard Amy call his name for him to stay but ignored it and kept going.

"Grr! Mina, when did you get here?" Amy turned back to Mina, irritated.

"Oh, just now. I bought everything I wanted so I had no choice but to come back home. But it looks like I interrupted something."

"What are you getting at? We were just talking!"

"You've had your eyes on Shadow this whole time and just pursued Sonic as a way to distract us."

"No!" Amy's face reddened like a cherry, "It is Sonic I want! Shadow's just one of my good friends."

"If you say so. Do you wanna see what I got from the mall?"

Amy accepted this offer and watched Mina pull each of her garments out of her bags.

"Ooh! I love that shirt!"

"Got it for 70% off! I couldn't leave the store without it." Mina next presented a pair of heels and purposefully waited for Amy to respond.

"Those are so cute!"

"I know, right? It would be criminal to leave the store without them. Hey, maybe next time you and me go shopping, I can find you a pair."

"Really? I would love that!"

Mina giggled along with an excited Amy then started putting her new clothes in her closet and new shoes on her shoe rack. "So... besides talking it up with Shadow, what else did you do while I was gone?"

"Nothing really besides that," Amy managed a smile.

With a given answer, Mina yawned, stretched her arms, then went over to her night stand. "Well, I guess we should call it a night then. Rei asked if we could come to the shrine tomorrow to help her plan a festival."

"A festival? That sounds like fun. What's the occasion?"

"According to her grandpa, this festival they want to have is to mark Autumn since its the season of harvest."

"Oh, I get it." Without hesitating, Amy retrieved her pillow and blankets to make her pallet on the floor. Then once the bathroom was empty, she went in to change into her pajamas so she could get under her covers and relax.

"Good night, Mina."

"Good night, Amy."

The day had come to an end and Sonic Moon could finally rest. Though Amy Rose had trouble entering sleep for the first few minutes; all she could think about was Serena and the Moon Kingdom. How badly she wished she could see that place...

* * *

_**-Lita's Apartment-**_

"Lita, dear. I would like to talk to you." While washing dishes from the dinner she served everyone, Vanilla called Lita into the kitchen and heard the young woman take a seat at the table.

"Sure, what is it?"

Vanilla seemed to feel uncomfortable about the words she was about to give. "The other day, when you mentioned there was something you do every blue moon... just what is that exactly?"

Lita felt guilt beginning to eat away at her. She shouldn't have acted secretive around Vanilla; for now, she was going to have to give an explanation for it.

"I'm waiting," Vanilla said in the kindest way possible.

Lita sighed. "I have this secret interest in learning martial arts. Sometimes, when I'm not that busy, I go to a secluded forest to practice and train in. I was scared of telling you but that was no reason to lie to you. You've been nothing but great ever since I let you live here." Lita bent her head and looked down at the kitchen tile but soon felt a hand land on her shoulder.

"That was all I wanted to hear," Vanilla said as Lita looked back up at her, "If I were to hear this from one of my children, then I would be frightened. But you are a strong girl. I know you can take care of yourself."

Lita returned a half smile to Vanilla's sweet one.

"I will be honest. It hurt me a little bit when you kept this secret from me, but now that you've confessed it, I feel a little better."

"I'm sorry Vanilla. You're just trying to look out for me. I promise I won't keep anymore secrets from you."

"Thank you." Vanilla rinsed off the last dish and took the rubber gloves off to give Lita a hug. Then she cleared her throat after embracing the girl. "Now that I know about your secret training, maybe I could pack you lunch sometime."

"Oh." Lita laughed nervously, "Sure! Thank you!"

* * *

_**-Ami's House-**_

If one concluded that Amy was the only one who had trouble sleeping, then they would be wrong. Ami didn't get that much sleep either.

Thanks to Eggman most likely, her school was in ruins. She wouldn't get to attend there anymore. Her school records and those of the other students were destroyed. She and her friends would have to look for another school and start over. Their education as freshman had only went on for few days, but that wasn't the point. This dilemma wasn't just a matter of having to leave all of the teachers and fellow classmates they'd become acquainted with for that week, but it also meant having to introduce themselves to new people.

Amy looked over at all of the text books she had laying inside her bookshelf in the corner of her room, hoping that the curriculum at whichever school she transferred to would allow her to still use these. Her education was important to her, and so she couldn't let anything sway her from that. Her mother hadn't procrastinated or slacked off to get to the professional doctor she is today. Her estranged father hadn't became the artist he is today by not receiving a decent education. It just didn't work that way.

Maybe going with Mina and the others to the mall would've taken her mind off of this. She did have some leftover money from the allowance her mother gave her, but she'd turned down their offer.

"I would love to, but I'm a bit sleepy. Maybe next time."


	26. Chapter 26

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Rei yawned and stretched her arms as she sat up in bed. The priestess had an intuition that something splendid would happen today.

As she guessed, the sky was bright and clear of blemishes, everyone else in the Hino household woke up feeling as refreshed as ever, the Hikawa Shrine gate was finally fixed, and today was the day that Rei would plan her grandfather's festival.

Rei's friends appeared one by one since they'd been called to help her plan this. Even Team Dark, Bocoe, Docoe, Omochao, and Bokkun, Vector and his pals named Espio and Charmy. Everyone.

She stood before them outside and began explanining the reason why she'd asked them to come, only to hear spectacular ideas like setting up a buffet of harvested food, firework shows, hiring musicians and dancers. Rei's grandpa loved all of it.

Continuing to plan and get this event prepared would of course take a few weeks. Grandpa Hino was okay with that. Everyone grew excited and anticipated for that special day to come, so they each took a little step at a time and always came to Rei's meeting to get closer to seeing that dream come true.

Anyone who was a parent of a student who had attended Juuban High School tried their best to find other schools. The terrorist attack made on this facility had changed the lives of so many young people. The Mugen Academy was a great for school for anyone to send their child too, but only those with the excellent grades would get in. Ami would be the only one to qualify to get into this place out of all of her friends. They, sadly, would have to keep looking elsewhere.

"What was the name of that school your friend Rei goes to?" Ikuko asked Serena while they were in the living room, "T. A. Girls' Academy? Yes, that's the one!"

"Mom. There's no way you and Dad are sending me to that school."

"And why not?" Kenji asked with a bit of sterness, "Rei seems to be doing well there."

"Her dad had the money to send her there. She hates it. It has nothing but grouchy old women who aren't happy with their lives so they try to make yours miserable. And they make you wear uniforms."

"Well, as much as you may not like it, that's just the way some schools are. The important thing is going and making good grades so that you can graduate and find a good job. No son or daughter of mine is going to flip burgers for a living."

Serena sighed in defeat and said bye to her parents as she started for the door.

Out in the afteroon daylight, Sonic had been waiting for her while sitting on the Tsukino's roof so he jumped down when spotting her start for the sidewalk. "Yo."

"Hey."

Sonic immediately halted when he sensed his friend's lack of cheerfulness and looked into her eyes. "Alright, what did your dad say to you this time?"

"Him and my mom are trying to put me in an all girl's academy, the same one Rei goes to. She told me how bad it is and so I don't think I should have to suffer the same thing. I care about school. I want passing grades. But now... now that we've learned about the Shadow Galactica, saw your world, met you and the other Sonic Heroes, sometimes I just wish I could be free too."

Sonic was honestly stunned after hearing this reply from his older friend. He'd had no idea she felt this way. He could gaze into her eyes now and realize how honest she was about it.

"Luna already explained to me why it's important for the future Queen of Crystal Tokyo to go to school, but who knew Eggman was going to send someone to blow it up? Even I was surprised to hear about it."

"Well..."

Serena waited for Sonic to say his part.

"You're right on the dot about that. A lot of kids are in trouble now that that school has to be rebuilt all over again. Maybe your destiny is to be Sailor Moon and the ruler of Crystal Tokyo someday, but your dad's just doing his job. There probably will never be school for people like me and Tails, but there are still responsibilities we have to take too."

"So what're you saying? I should let my dad put me in that school and graduate from there so I won't have to worry about it later?"

"I'm just saying let your dad be your dad. It doesn't matter which one they end up placing you in." Sonic curled his lips into a tiny smile in hopes of cheering Serena up.

"... alright." Serena forced her own smile as she and Sonic returned to walking. "But don't expect me to like it."

"That idea never crossed my mind," Sonic winked and gave a thumbs up, "You wanna know something, Serena? You're one of the freest people I know."

"I am?"

"Yeah. You don't care what other people think. When you put your life on the line for someone you care about. Sometimes when you express how you feel and don't worry about what that other person has to say back. That's what makes you you. I can say that because I'm a free spirit myself."

Serena processed Sonic's words as they made their way down the street. "Wow... that's one of the nicest things that anyone's ever said to me. Thank you."

Since Sonic Moon had been spending most of their time at the Rei's place to go over plans for the festival, they decided to seperate afterwards and each go do their own activity. So right now, Serena and Sonic were on their way to the park.

Amy had just came back from the Hikawa Shrine after returning her Shinto Trainee uniform and heading in the same direction to look for Sonic. Her eyes came across him as he could be seen walking down the street on the opposite side of the road with Serena alongside him. "Sonic!"

* * *

_**-Crossroads Park-**_

For Sonic's sake, Serena agreed to stay as far away from the lake as possible. This had been the hedgehog's first time coming to this park, so she gave him a tour of some sorts. There were things to view and walk through such as the squirrels, jungle gyms for the kids, and flowerbeds of lillies and daisies that had been grown by the park caretaker and Ami's friend, Kunitachi.

"Wow." Sonic walked up to the flowerbed and knelt down to smell one of the bloomed lillies. The smell was so sweet and pleasant to his nose. If allowed to, he would've knelt down and picked one for Cream to have; for the rabbit child simply adored flowers. So he stood back up and overlooked the whole field of flowers with Serena by his side. "Ami's friend did a good job at growing these flowers."

"Yeah. It almost got bulldozed before Ami's parents offered to buy it from the owner."

"Ami's parents bought her this place?"

"Well, yeah, in a way. The owner was about to sell it and have these bulldozers tear it down, but Kunitachi didn't like it. He spoke up, so Ami did too and she asked her parents if they could help her save it."

"Nice." Sonic took this next quiet moment to gaze at Kunitachi's beautiful flowers once more. Though as soon as he laid his eyes on them, he heard someone call his name with a most delightful tone.

"Serena?" Sonic realized that he was left alone and found Serena smiling at him from behind a tree. He gave her a look that said, "Why are you over there and why did you leave me by myself?" but she giggled and only gave the hedgehog an eye wink. Girls and their games...

Sonic heaved out a dramatic sigh and looked back to Amy who was very glad to see him. She pulled him into a tight embrace then asked if he came here to this park to go out on a date with her. He fumbled with the words that were on his tongue and couldn't give an answer, so she pulled him by the arm and dragged him into a new direction.

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Later on in the day, Rei contacted all of the Sailor Scouts and told them to meet her at the shrine for something important. Each of them except for Trista arrived there as fast as they could and stood in their usual circle outside Rei's home.

"So, what do we need to discuss?" Lita asked Rei.

Though suddenly, Rei snapped her fingers and a magical curtain came from thin air to cover her. The magical curtain soon went up to show someone else standing in Rei's spot, so they gawked at her appearance and immediately got into their fighting stances.

This imposter giggled and put on a dark smile. Like the other Sailor Animamates the Sailor Scouts faced, this bundled her green hair into odangos like Serena's and wore a green sailor suit that had a frog-like top along with boots designed with frog eggs.

"Who are you? Where's Rei?" Serena interrogated this new villian.

"I am one of Galaxia's most trusted followers, Sailor Titanium Frog. It's not important where I put your friend. After I'm through with all of you, you won't be able to save anyone."

Serena and the others wondered what Titanium Frog meant by this, but they didn't bother to waste anymore time thinking and instead pulled their transformation wands out.

Titanium Frog caught sight of this and immediately raised her hands to summon a ball of dark, chaotic energy. "DARK POWER!"

To their misfortune, the Sailor Scouts had no choice but to turn and shield themselves from this wave of black energy. Surprisingly, it didn't do any damage or harm to them. They faced Titanium Frog and wondered why she used this power on them, but they learned the answer when they shouted their transformation cries and no change took place.

Amara was galvanized to not feel herself being transformed into Sailor Uranus. She looked down at her Lip Rod then around at her comrades. They were all having the same problem too.

Serena heard Titanium Frog's evil laugh and looked back up at her with a stoic expression, letting her brooch fall to the ground. Once the laughter came to a close, she parted her lips. "What did you do to our powers?"

"Isn't it obvious? I put a spell on you so can't transform. Now none of you stands a chance against Shadow Galactica."

"Is that so?"

Everyone looked to their left where this deep voice came from and spotted Shadow.

He glared at Titanium Frog with his fangs showing and put his hands together to form a Chaos Blast. "You shouldn't take the Sailor Scouts so lightly. They have the Ultimate Life Form on their side!"

With enough power, Shadow threw his attack at Titanium Frog to only see her send her same dark energy at it. The balls collided with one another and created an explosion, so everyone had to cover their eyes and look away.

When Serena's eyes flickered open, she noticed the Black Blur standing beside her and Rini. "Shadow!"

Titanium Frog reappeared once the smoke from the explosion cleared and everyone locked their eyes on her.

"Shadow. How did you know to come here?" Serena asked the hedgehog.

"I sensed this girl. Her and the energies of others who were sent by the Shadow Galactica. Their forces are getting darker and closer as they're slowly reaching their ultimate goal. That's why I can pick up better senses of them. And while that goal is being carried out, they've sent this soldier here to do away with us."

After hearing what Shadow had to say, Lita took a brave step foward. "Well not if I have anything to say about it!"

Titanium Frog heard Lita shout and come her way with a packed fist. She stepped to the side and moved again to dodge all of her punches, until there was an opening and she could knock Lita back with a roundhouse kick.

"Lita!" Serena and the others surrounded the injured girl and helped her stand up. They then turned their sights back to their newest enemy and gave the same glare as Shadow.

"So maybe the talking animal did figure us out. But it doesn't change anything. Master Galaxia will cover this world with her beautiful garden soon, then she can have the choice to do whatever she wants with it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amara asked with a cold tone.

"Personally, after killing all of you, I would destroy this planet afterwards. But there's something my master likes about it. She won't tell anyone why."

Serena remembered back to the conversation she shared with Trista inside the Crown Fruit Parlor. Galaxia was known for destroying planets and acquiring loyal followers at almost each time, so why did she want to spare Earth?

Rather than stick around and chat, Titanium Frog prepared to vanish instantly.

"Hey!" Serena called out to the Sailor Animamate.

...

...

...

...

"This can't be happening!" Amara looked down at her Lip Rod then grew upset and threw it away from her. Everyone watched it hit the ground and just lay there.

"Amara, please try to calm down. We'll find a solution to this."

Amara looked to Michelle as she said this and tried her best not to shout. "Michelle. We can't transform anymore. That woman took our powers and all we have now are trinkets... as of now, the Sailor Scouts are off duty."

Suddenly, everyone became shocked and started chattering and complaining about how they felt about the situation. This was an outrage!

"No! Our lives as Sailor Scouts can't be over!"

Having untied the roped bondages she was in and escaping from the closet she'd been placed in, Rei finally made her way outside and happened to hear these words. What was Serena talking about as she said the Sailor Scouts can't be over? With her freedom, she ran up to her friends and interrupted their meeting.

"Rei!" Everyone exclaimed with relief.

"Rei, someone dressed up like you and tricked us into coming over here. Then they took our powers..." Serena looked away miserably.

"What?" Rei didn't know what to say to this. "How?"

"By using dark energy," Shadow answered the priestess, "I came and stopped the person before they could do anymore harm, but it was too late."

She couldn't believe this...

...

...

"They were sent by Galaxia, and told us that they plan on covering Earth with her garden," Rei heard Shadow continue to say.

This wasn't happening.

Rei looked around at her allies and could see how much despair this situation left them in. Oddly enough, Titanium Frog didn't think to strip her of her abilities. But now she wouldn't get to take down evil alongside her comrades. They wouldn't get to have the addition of Mars power on the team.

"... and that's that. We won't be able to protect Earth, let alone ourselves now. I wasn't expecting it to come to this either, but we can't change what's been done," Amara broke this tragic silence.

"No..." Serena wouldn't give in to Amara's statements. "There has to be another way. Y-you can't make decisions like this when the rest of us haven't given our consent yet."

"Buns. With the way everything's been going, I would say any of us can make decisions like this. It's not a trial we can reason with." Amara retrieved Serena's brooch from the ground and handed it to her. "Raise this above your head and cry out the magic words."

Serena felt the pressure, but everyone watched her reach for her brooch and try to turn into Sailor Moon.

"MOON, ETERNAL, MAKE UP!"

Nothing.

Serena ignored this failure and tried again. The others could do nothing but feel sympathy for this princess and watch her.

"MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP! MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP!"

After crying out for the last time, Serena grew tired and panted to regain her breath. She didn't want to believe this. There had to be another way. They always found their ways out of tricky situations. Always, always, always.

With no other route to take, Serena fell to her knees and started crying. She weeped and weeped until her heart gave everything out. Then she felt someone's hand. Two actually, each one resting on each of her shoulders.

After sniffing as one usually does when they cry, Serena looked back and realized it was Rini comforting her. She'd felt very saddened to see her mommy cry and so she came and tried to make her feel better like any child would.

"Serena..." Rini walked from around the girl and put her arms around her to give an embrace.

"Rini." Serena linked her own arms with Rini and cried even more. No one else muttered a word as there obviously was nothing to say. So they watched the daughters of the Moon cry onto each other until sunset...

* * *

_**-Mystic Ruins-**_

Tails took it upon himself to spend the rest of the day in his workshop to do some checkups on the X-Tornado along with trying a few new modifications on Sonic's Magic Gloves, so he definitely was not expecting to see Shadow at the door.

"Shadow!"

The Moon Cats looked up from where they were sitting by Tails's couch and noticed the black hedgehog as well. Luna asked Artemis to watch Diana so she could go to the front door and see what was going on, and when she did, her heart was torn.

"Serena!" Luna was already stricken with sadness because she hadn't gotten to be with her friends like before, but she could see that they were sad and Serena and Rini had been crying their eyes out. She hurried past Shadow and over to them to see what was wrong. Amara and Michelle weren't present as they'd left the shrine instead of coming here.

Serena felt her eyes start to water with hot tears again. "Luna... the most terrible of all terrible things has happened today."

"What terrible thing?"

Artemis found himself asking Tails to hold Diana as he heard this conversation and couldn't help but check it out too. So a puzzled Tails stood in the doorway with a sleeping Diana in his arms and watched the scene with Shadow next to him.

"Galaxia sent another Sailor Soldier who disguised themselves as Rei and tricked us into having our powers taken."

"What?" Luna's eyes widened in horror. "That's not possible!"

As much as Luna didn't want to believe it, Ami explained how Titanium Frog unleashed Dark Power and watched Amara struggle to change into Sailor Uranus.

"... there isn't any item or new power we can give to them, Luna? Anything?" Artemis asked desperately.

Luna's eyes shifted to the ground as her tears went down with them. "I don't know."

Well Tails wouldn't stand for it. As if without thinking, he handed Diana to Shadow and ran back inside his house to hurry into his garage.

While everyone else curiously followed him, Shadow was stuck following them quietly with this ball of fur in his hands.

"Tails!" Artemis called out as he and the others followed Tails downstairs.

"You guys, I know a way that you can all still transform!" Tails announced to everyone.

"How?" Mina asked with hope in her eyes.

"But our wands don't work when we shout," Rini pointed out to Tails.

"Then you guys can summon your powers from another source." Tails clarfied his explanation to his friends and watched the smiles that brightened up their faces.

"Are you certain that just anyone can harness Chaos Energy?" asked Ami.

Well... no, but it doesn't hurt to try."

Tails's friends looked around at one another and came to agree with this idea he'd made.

"Then it's settled," said Artemis, "We'll head back to Green Hill and find the Chaos Emeralds again."

"I'll go," Shadow volunteered, "That way the rest of you can stay here in case of an emergency."

With a new idea proposed and destinations set, everyone stayed at Tails's for dinner and talked with Moon Cats about number of things: Galaxia, Shadow Galactica, Amara and Michelle, and Diana. Tails was complimented on his cooking so much that some asked for second portions. This was the first time he'd ever made and served dinner for seven people.

Mina growled as she kept pushing the same button on her watch communicator and never reaching a connection to Sonic's. Amy's didn't seem to work either. Where was those two?

"What's wrong, Mina?" Artemis asked the blonde.

"It's this communicator. It's not letting me contact Sonic or Amy."

Everyone took the time to ponder on this subject, and soon Tails gave his reply. "Maybe something's wrong with their communicators."

"But how could that be? They always wears it," Ami asked out loud, "Unless it was damaged or they took it off and misplaced it somewhere. Does anyone know where they could be right now?"

"Earlier they were at the park," answered Serena.

"And you didn't say anything sooner?" Rei snapped at Serena.

"Well I didn't know we were gonna have problems contacting them, Rei! Get off my back!"

"Girls, be quiet! There's no use in arguing now that we know where Sonic and Amy are. Who would like to volunteer to go to the park and find them?"

Serena, Mina, and Rei raised their hands.


	27. Chapter 27

_**-Crossroads Park-**_

Sonic didn't know how he did it, but he stayed in the park with Amy from afternoon until nightfall because she'd thrown his communicator somewhere. As a way to take out distractions and be closer to Sonic, she snatched his communicator off his wrist and ran away to hide it. Even when he caught up to her and asked her where she put it, she said she wouldn't tell him unless he finished this date they were on. And so the confinement in Crossroads Park had continued...

About half an later, Serena and the others arrived and walked along the concrete to reach the heart of this park. Rei suggested that they split up and search for Sonic that way, so she went towards Kunitachi's garden, Serena to the lake, and Mina to the jungle gym.

Rei had to admit, it'd been a long time since she came to this park. The only memory she had of it was two years ago when she first met Darien and went on that date with him... they were riding that boat along the lake and sharing deep discussions. But a lot had changed since then.

As Rei made her way across the wooden bridge, she was getting closer to her destination and noticing Amy near its flowers.

"I'll never have my date with him when's so worried about his watch. I'm sure the girls are doing fine."

"Amy?"

"Rei!" Amy spun around and jumped at the priestess's surprising arrival. "W-what are you doing here?"

"To find Sonic. We have an emergency and haven't been able to contact you or him. Why aren't you wearing your watch?"

Before answering this question, Amy found herself troubled with how to say it. She put her hands behind her back with her communicator in one of them and became nervous. "U-uh... well, I might've taken Sonic's watch off his wrist then removed mine so that we wouldn't have any interruptions."

"What?" Rei pinched the bridge of her nose as Amy was heating up her temper. "Amy, that watch was made for you so that we can contact you or you can contact us in case of an emergency! There can't be anything so important that you have to take it off!"

"I-I'm sorry, Rei!" Amy apologized fearfully.

Rei ended up reacting with a concerned frown and letting out a sigh. "... it's fine. Just don't place your love life above your duties. You have to remember what your priorities are."

Amy grasped these words that Rei said and watched her ask for her watch. With nervousness but promptness, the younger girl handed Rei her watch and felt a tinge of pain as it was taken.

Since she already wore her own device, Rei stuffed Amy's watch down her priestess shirt and called it a day. "You'll get your communicator back when you learn to use it the right way."

No matter how much he ran, or how many bushes he looked through, Sonic could not locate his communicator. "Now I get the expression where they say it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. This is almost hopeless." But the hedgehog wouldn't give up so easily. His sights led him to another set of bushes just after the next tree. He knelt down in front of it and began spreading its leaves apart to look inside, and after being unsuccessful again, he rose to his feet and saw...

"Rei!"

Amy could be seen still looking guilty as she stood alongside Rei.

"When did you get here?" Sonic asked Rei.

"Just a while ago." Rei turned to look at Amy. "Amy here admitted that she hid your watch somewhere and took hers off, and the Sailor Scouts had an emergency."

Sonic gasped then sent a slight frown Amy's way. "Ames! Now you see why that wasn't cool! They were in trouble and you took off our watches so they couldn't call us."

"Sonic..."

Amy's blue hero seemed to ignore her as he looked back at Rei and opened up a new matter to speak about. "Where are the others right now?"

"Serena and Mina came with me to look for you guys. Since I got to you first, let's hurry and get your watch."

...

...

Soon after Amy retrieved Sonic's communicator and he strapped it back on his wrist, everyone regrouped with Serena and Mina, then headed back to the Mystic Ruins. Amy didn't say much during the train ride, worrying Mina and Serena, but they became pretty upset once they were informed of what she did.

"Amy, you have to be more careful. Something worse could've happened and then we would really be in trouble," Mina tried explaining to the hedgehog, "I know Sonic's the guy of your dreams, but that doesn't mean you lose contact with everyone else."

"I just wanted to spend more time with him..."

* * *

_**-Mystic Ruins-**_

While Lita, Ami, and Rini sat in front of the couch watching Diana crawl, three knocks came from the front door and Shadow answered it to see who it was. He saw Sonic crack a grin and wave at him, while Amy looked troubled and very unlike her usual self.

"Where'd Tails go?" Serena asked as she and her friends entered the fox's home and didn't see him anywhere.

"He's downstairs in the garage." Ami noticed Sonic and parted her lips again. "Sonic, we tried to reach you about five times but niether you or Amy heard the call. Did something happen with your watches?"

"Yeah, but it's been taken care of."

Shadow noticed the gloom inside Amy.

"I don't see Artemis or Luna anywhere," Mina pointed out as she walked around Tails's furniture, "They left you guys with Diana to have some alone time?"

"Yeah. You can tell that they're so in love with each other now," Rini clasped her hands together, "I'm so happy for them and I'm glad that I'll get to have their daughter help train me to be a Sailor Scout too."

"Luna and Artemis have gotten a lot closer lately, haven't they?" Lita asked out loud, "I think I envy them."

With the atmosphere turning silent and no one else had anything to add about the Moon Cats, Tails came from downstairs and found Sonic in his living room. "Sonic!"

"Tails!" Sonic smiled and approached his best friend with curiosity about the pair of gloves he was holding. "I see you made some changes to the Magic Gloves. What's the cool ability or trick that I get to use this time?"

"Well before, you remember how I told you the gloves let you shrink your enemies so you can take and throw them. But now, with newer modifications, you can do this." To demonstrate what he was saying, Tails switched his gloves with the Magic gloves and could be seen forming a ball of yellow light in his hands.

"Wow!" Rini gawked along with everyone else at this new ability, "That's so cool!"

The whole room was illuminated by this yellow light, as everyone's shadows danced along the wall. Eyes were transfixed onto Tails's hands. Minds were blown away.

Shadow didn't admit it out loud, but even he knew this invention deserved recognition.

The light faded and Sonic responded once it did by whistling. "I'm gonna love wearing these!"

"By researching how Chaos Energy works and attaching batteries with that energy to these gloves, you can use them to send blasts at your enemies. I'm not sure how long the batteries last, but it shouldn't be too soon." Tails took off the Magic Gloves and watched Sonic put them on.

The hedgehog liked the addition of the batteries that Tails just mentioned as it was the red bracelets that were attached to his gloves. Plus, the yellow spikes on his right glove were now similar to the extra spikes that Tails built into his left one.

"I'm glad Sonic's gloves were upgraded," Lita said to Tails, "So this is the same energy we're going to try to fight with?"

"Yeah. Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and I know how to harness the Chaos Emeralds, so it shouldn't be difficult teaching it. From what Luna and Artemis told me, you all hold unusual energies because of the planets you were born from. So the Chaos Emeralds' positive energy can be like your own batteries."

After the Moon Cats felt like they spent enough time alone with one another, they catwalked back downstairs and saw that Sonic and Amy had been found. Also, Tails had modified Sonic's Magic Gloves and now he could manipulate Chaos Energy, the same powers that the Sailor Scouts would become accustomed with.

"I think I like the sound of that," Artemis smiled then looked over to Luna, "So the girls may have a chance to still fight after all. Isn't that great, Luna?"

"Yes. I just hope the Chaos Emeralds accept the girls's hearts." As Luna watched her friends beginning to chatter amongst each other and look over Sonic's Magic Gloves, she told Artemis of a phrase that Knuckles had shared with her. "The seven Chaos Emeralds are the servers. Our hearts intensify their power. The controller serves to unify the chaos. That is an incantation that's meant to enhance the Master Emerald's power."

"So then with the Sailor Scouts as their servers, that means they would be intensifying its positive energy. They would be unifying the chaos by using its power for good and defeating Chaos." Artemis turned to Luna with a tiny smile. "I think the Chaos Emeralds would accept their hearts. They have to." To better ease the worried Luna, Artemis put his paw on top of hers and left it there.

She would've gasped at this, but there was no reason to act that way now. Artemis was her soul mate.

With all of the hate and revenge Omega held for Eggman, he helped gather the Chaos Emeralds and watched the Egg Carrier explode before his very eyes. But what happened to Eggman?

As Omega sat under an Amazon-like tree and was lonesome, Rouge soon landed in front of him as he'd requested to meet her for a specific reason.

"Alright, Omega. I came here like you asked. What's up?"

"It's about Eggman."

Rouge arched her eyebrow with piqued curiosity. "What about him?"

"Each of us witnessed the Egg Carrier suffer from that explosion two weeks ago. Sonic mentioned that Eggman caused this by activating a self-destruction device, but what if he is still alive?"

"I doubt it," Rouge shook her head, "There's no way he could've survived that explosion. He was a scientist who had the IQ of 300, but anyone with that much intelligence should know not to create self-destruction devices. There's more to Eggman that we don't know about."

Omega remained silent for a short time to acknowledge what his bat-friend was saying. "... you are correct about that. That is the reason why I have decided to look for him."

"Omega. I'm sure that old geezer programmed you to hear people clearly. I just implied that he's dead. We're not seeing him again."

Even as Rouge said these things, Omega's pride got the best of him and he clenched his metal fists. "I don't believe you, Rouge. What you are implying isn't backed up with any evidence."

"This argument doesn't need evidence! You want evidence? He hasn't appeared for two weeks! That's the evidence you're looking for." As the atmosphere soon became strangely silent, a cunning grin showed on Rouge's lips. "Wait, I know what this is all about! You're angry at Eggman for imprisoning you all these years, so you vowed to do everything you can to have your revenge. You believe you're superior to his other robots but you never had the chance to prove that. Now he's gone, you'll never have that chance. You weren't the one who got to end his life like you'd hoped."

Omega could've responded, but Rouge defeated him. She saw through him and exposed the sole reason he wanted to prove Eggman's existence. So the E-Series Robot never did reply or make up an argument to say back. She won.

"Sorry if that wasn't what you wanted to hear, Omega. But he's gone. We can all move on with our lives now."

Rouge flapped her bat wings and ascended up towards the starry night sky. She began to feel bad for talking to Omega the way she did, but he needed the truth.

All his life, his creator didn't show any signs of care for him. He felt as if Omega wouldn't get the job done, but only be a thorn in his side or a setback. His presence wasn't wanted.

Now that Rouge had left the scene, he couldn't ask her to journey with him and look for Eggman. But no matter.

Omega's eyes glowed a bright red as he still clenched his fists up. He turned his view to the skies, specifically at the moon. "Eggman, I know you're out there somewhere! I will find you and finally prove to you that I am the strongest E-Series Robot! I will make you pay for the way you treated me by inflicting that same pain on you!"

Maybe this adventure was for only Omega to take after all. No one else had ever experienced the things he had. They didn't understand the emotions that drove him to wanting to make Eggman miserable.

When the robot didn't notice it, the Flickies came from their resting places and fluttered around him with concern. Something about their friend was different. He seemed intent on walking foward and leaving this jungle. So like the loyal friends they were, they followed him.

* * *

_**-Lita's Apartment-**_

Having promised to forget their old ways and live as heroes, Decoe, Bocoe, and Bokkun were allowed to also stay in Lita's apartment. Vanilla had grown to be motherly towards these robots as well; they felt as if she'd adopted them and grew to like her so much because of how sweet and caring she was, so she was their new guardian and they were brought into her family.

As for their other friends, they welcomed Eggman's robots into their family sort of circle after learning about them and growing to favor their animated personalities, so they were officially brought into Sonic Moon as well.

As of right now, they all stood on Lita's balcony and overlooked Crossroads City with Omochao there as their guest. The Chao Robot would spend the night and leave the next day, so he wanted to spend quality time with the other robots and deepen his friendship with them.

The lights spread out across Crossroads City were all so beautiful, especially with Tokyo Tower in the Shiba Koen District standing proud and tall as the famous landmark it was. Bokkun was told that Tokyo had some of the most amazing amusement parks, and that if he behaved well, then Cream's mother would take him and the others to one sometime this month.

One-third of August's had already passed, so before anyone knew it, September would come around. Then October, then November. So there was also Halloween and Thanksgiving to look forward to. Not to mention Serena and Darien's anniversary...

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Rei opened her eyes and yawned as she rose to sit up in bed. She'd slept well last night and felt like she could go running with Sonic or Shadow this morning.

"Good morning, Grandpa and Chad."

...

...

Rei quickly prepared herself a bento box after having brushed her hair, teeth, and put on her school uniform. The last thing to do was to wrap her lunch inside a clothsack so she could carry it, so she did just that and started for the door."I'll see you guys after school."

"Alright, Rei. You have a good day at school now," Rei heard her grandfather say.

"See you later, Rei," Chad waved shyly.

As Rei made her way down the Hikawa Shrine's steps she thought about her school, the same things she'd told Serena. Most of it's teachers didn't like their jobs and the uniforms were gaudy. Who could blame Rei for feeling that way?

Nonetheless, Rei walked to her school and entered through its front gate. There was a crowd of girls and women outside and they surrounded the school as if they weren't allowed to step in. So she cut through the crowd to where her classmates stood in the front.

"Oh, Miss Rei! We're so glad you're here."

"Why isn't anyone going inside the school?"

"You haven't heard? Someone broke into the school district and stole their funds, so this school won't be able to function anymore. Isn't it just terrible?"

* * *

_**-Serena's House-**_

"Rini."

No matter how many times Ikuko called her name, the pink child wouldn't come out of Serena's room, let alone get from under the bedcovers. She heard Ikuko twist the doorknob open then come in and sit on the bed.

"Auntie Ikuko, I know you're trying to look out for me but I'm just not in the mood for school today."

Ikuko laid a gentle hand on the blanket where Rini's shoulder was. "Oh, Rini. I know you've been through a lot lately. It's been hectic for all of us. But your education shouldn't change because of that." Feeling that enough had been said, Ikuko lifted the blanket and found Rini laying still with a depressed look on her face. Poor child...

Seeing the care in her future-grandmother's eyes, Rini sat up and hugged her. She indeed couldn't deal with everything that'd came her way. But maybe it was something she could handle, even if her mind convinced her otherwise. Anyone who was a Sailor Scout surely had to learn how to look danger in the face like this.

Rini let go of Ikuko then looked up at her. "You're right, Auntie." Next, she got down from bed and slipped on her shoes since she was already dressed. "I shouldn't let whatever happens keep me down."

Somewhat of a relieved smile was brought to Ikuko's face as she watched her future-granddaughter get ready for school. Obviously, the girl was a little late since Ikuko had had to urge her to get out of bed, so she borrowed the family car.

* * *

_**-Outside Crossroads City-**_

Like the World's Fastest Hedgehog usually did, he had went for another jog then decided to rest under the same tree that he and Knuckles stood under.

In the midst of peace and relaxation, the sound of someone calling his name entered the atmosphere and made his eyes flutter open. Running towards him was Tails, who appeared to be troubled about something and in great need of addressing the issue to someone.

"What's up, Tails? How'd you know where to find me?"

"Because I've known you for so long." Tails managed to give a half smile, but whatever was on his chest was becoming a heavier load and so he battled with his mind to get it out.

"Hey, what's wrong? You look sad."

"Well... it's just that there's something I need to get off my chest." Tails inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly to help himself relax. "... a while back, when we we're paying off your debt to Rei's grandpa, I saw her fire reading and... happened to catch a glimpse of what she saw."

Sonic tilted his head confusedly. "Uh... well, what did you see?"

Tails tried to remember what those flames showed him that night. "There were four angels who all had something different about them, and they all faced different directions. To me, it looked like they didn't notice each other and were focused on their own things."

"Hmm..." Sonic put his hand to his chin and pondered on Tails's words. Then he looked back up at the fox. "I'm not sure if I can figure out what that means, buddy. Rei hasn't mentioned anything like that to us yet."

"That's true..." Tails made a sigh, "We have to find out what that vision meant. Rei has probably kept it secret for a good reason, so we can't let her know I saw it too."

"You have my okay then," Sonic gave a thumbs up, "Just tell me what to do and I'll be there."

From this moment on, as Sonic and Tails decided to find the meaning behind Tails's vision, Tails returned home to get on his computer and do research on angels, his communicator always on his wrist in case he needed to call Sonic for anything.

* * *

_**-Mystic Ruins-**_

Rei could have been continuing her meeting about her grandpa's festival, but she along with the rest of her friends were too anxious as Shadow had returned with the Chaos Emeralds and gave them to Tails so the Fox Boy could plan their next phase.

"This is so exciting! We're going to learn how to use the Chaos Emeralds like Sonic and Shadow," said a happy Serena. "So Tails, how are we gonna decide who teaches each of us?"

"Well, there's four of us who know the technique, so we each teach our own pair of Sailor Scouts. But there's only seven emeralds, so that means one of us will have to teach only one of you guys."

A tiny smile came to Luna's lips, "Tails, the Sailor Scouts are eternally grateful to you."

Each member of Sailor Moon's primary team looked to Tails in agreement of Luna's words. Without this witty little fox, they probably wouldn't ever be able to regain their powers.

"You've helped us in darkest hour, and you've been a true friend. So we all hope to be the same towards you," Luna continued with sincerity.

"Aww, you guys..." Tails looked around at everyone with embarrassment, then felt Serena and the other girls all pull him into a hug. This made him blush so laughed and giggled.

"Luna's right, Tails. You've been so helpful to us," Serena said as everyone let go of him.

"Thanks, Serena." Tails calmed down and his cheeks redness went down.

"Everyone, so now that Shadow's back with the emeralds, we can split up and get the lessons started." Tails moved along by saying who would teach who and from there let them decide where to have the lessons, because the Mystic Ruins was a gigantic place.


	28. Chapter 28

_**-Windy Valley Zone-**_

"Alright. Let's see what you girls are made of." As Windy Valley blew everyone's hair with its gustful winds, Knuckles tossed Ami and Lita their own Chaos Emerald and watched them catch it. "Harnessing Chaos Energy is really easy once you get the hang of it."

Knuckles's students looked down at the jewels in their hands and stared at their soft glows.

"It's said that in the past, my people used these emeralds for so much evil. And so because of that, the Master Emerald was created to control them and balance their powers out. So whenever you're harnessing Chaos Energy, you must make sure not to absorb too much or it will drive you insane."

Lita and Ami nodded then waited for Knuckles to continue.

"Chaos Energy is unstable energy that turns your thoughts into power. These emeralds are made up of negative and positive Chaos Energy, so try having only positive thoughts." Knuckles watched his younger friends begin to concentrate and focus on different things that were only of good and not evil. Peace, love, happiness, family and togetherness, justice, ridding the world of darkness and everything related to it.

The Chaos Emeralds glowed brighter until they formed auras around their posessers.

Ami and Lita flinched at first but Knuckles assured them to relax and let the Chaos Energy flow through their veins.

"Don't be afraid. The emeralds feel your thoughts." Knuckles came to realize that the Sailor Scouts hadn't dealt with this much power before. The power of their Sailor Crystals were great, but the energy of Chaos was immeasurable and infinite.

In the end, they were successful in bringing the Chaos Emeralds under control and absorbing its power to make it their own. They both closed their eyes and slowly allowed the Chaos Energy to turn magically transform them into the Sailor Soldiers they were.

Knuckles gasped at their appearances as their uniforms were the same except all of its features were and glowed a pure white... and their faces changed.

Lita and Ami looked at each other since they'd seem to leave Knuckles so amazed. They gasped at each others appearances as their hair turned silver while their eyes became red.

* * *

_**-Red Mountain Zone-**_

Amara and Michelle stared at each other with the same overwhelming feeling and astonishment. Now they carried different characteristics, and the Chaos Emeralds had accepted them, making them stronger than ever before.

"Let's see how you two can fight now that you've harnessed Chaos Energy," Shadow summoned a Chaos Spear. "Which of you will come at me first?"

Shadow's pupils exchanged glances with each other then decided that Michelle would go up first. She started the practice battle by shouting, "NEPTUNE... DEEP... SUBMERGE!" and watching her attack go towards her opponent.

* * *

_**-Icecap Zone-**_

"Alright! Let's do this!" Sonic bent over to curl into a ball so he could Spin Dash towards his students.

They managed to jump out of the way as he came at them. So Serena called out to Rini and motioned her to pull out her wand and form an attack with her.

"DOUBLE STARLIGHT HONEYMOON..."

Sonic uncurled from a ball and skidded to a stop to turn and see the techniques his friends were using. Golden light kissed both him and the snowy wall behind him, soon getting brighter and brighter until it was finally released.

"... THERAPY KISS!"

Serena and Rini's attack rushed towards Sonic speedily. He might've dodged it and not taken damage, but they did do an excellent job when creating a tunnel in the wall.

"Woah!" Sonic looked at what the girls had done and was very impressed. "Looks like you guys are fast learners, like me."

Serena and Rini looked at the tunnel and gasped as Serena said, "We did that? Wow, I don't know what to say!"

"We're so much stronger now!" added Rini, "When do we learn Chaos Control?"

"Uh... maybe some other time. Right now is a good time to take a break and see what the cats are up to," Sonic rubbed his head nervously.

* * *

_**-Sand Hill Zone-**_

Mina let out a battle cry as she threw her Venus Chain towards Tails. With how much power the warrior had now, a speechless Tails hadn't acted fast enough and was wrapped around her chain. He let out a painful yelp and begged for Mina to let go of him.

"This chain is crushing my bones!"

"Oh, sorry!" Mina loosened her grip and an anime sweatdrop appeared on her head. "Guess I have more power than I can handle now."

"It's okay." Tails rubbed his waist where it was hurting and and got up to his feet. "Chaos Emeralds hold infinite power so now you're as strong as Sonic or Shadow when they turn super. What do you say we head back to my house and take a break?"

"Sure!"

* * *

_**-Mystic Ruins-**_

With the Sailor Scouts having reverted to normal, them and their teachers casually returned to Tails's home, only to see the front door hanging wide open and no one was in the living room. There was the possibility of the Moon Cats being upstairs, but they checked that and garage too.

"Where could they be? They'd never leave without saying anything," confirmed a panicked Serena. The blonde looked under the couch but still didn't see any sign of a cat or kitten.

"Maybe this will tell us something," said Tails who found a note lying on his table. "... it says someone has kidnapped them, along with some of our other friends?"

Quickly, Sonic snatched the note from Tails and read it for himself. "If you want your friends back, meet us above the clouds and bring the Chaos Emeralds with you." Sonic clenched his fist that he was holding the paper with and tossed it aside. "They're talking about Sky Sanctuary!"

"What? But that place was destroyed when we fought Mecha Sonic!" Knuckles remembered that epic event, "How could they have rebuilt it?"

"Well whatever the case, we have to hurry and stop them before they get any closer to accomplishing their goal," Shadow informed with a serious tone, "Their forces are getting darker as the days go by. We can't let them plant Galaxia's garden."

"Right!" Everyone said in full agreement.

* * *

_**-Sky Sanctuary Zone-**_

**Song Insert: Sonic 3 and Knuckles "Doomsday Zone" **

Sky Sanctuary Zone had been just as Knuckles described. Mecha Sonic destroyed it's structure severely and left nothing but a floating wasteland. But now it looked good as new, rebuilt in the same manner except everything was gold and metallic. Futuristic.

After the Sailor Scouts powered up again and Shadow teleported himself and everyone else here, they noticed this altered scene and began making their way through it.

"This looks nothing like Sky Sanctuary," Knuckles thought as he looked around at the towers and water fountains, "Galaxia's turned it into her fortress."

In the past, when Sonic first came here, he'd had to face the oncoming assault of Eggman's robots. But now the entire zone was empty, so they're only option was to climb up towers, hop across clouds, and jump across any platforms that stood in their way.

Sonic's eyes flickered with a radiant, burning anger. Galaxia was heating things up and taunting Sonic Moon to clash in a final showdown, even if it meant putting the lives of their loved ones on the line. This was it. Just like during the Silver Millenium, when she hadn't gotten what she wanted, she unleashed her fury. This same epic saga was being relived once more.

Eventually, Sonic Moon reached the highest floor and saw a tall building from far.

"A cathedral," Hyper Uranus pointed out, "That's where they are. Let's hurry."

Hyper Uranus's comrades followed after her along the golden trail. They could feel the same energy that Shadow spoke of as they steadily inched closer towards Galaxia's Cathedral. Chaos.

Once reaching its two front doors, Sonic, Shadow, Tails and Knuckles all revealed the Chaos Emeralds. They absorbed its positive energy and reappeared in their super forms.

"Serena."

Hyper Sailor Moon looked down at Super Sonic with a stoic expression. He only smiled at her and gave a huge thumbs up. Seeing this made her smile too; even in the face of Chaos, this hedgehog still had a reason to smile.

"Let's go!" After Sonic declared this, he, Tails, Shadow and Knuckles all blasted the doors down and hurried on in.

* * *

_**-Galaxia's Cathedral-**_

The inside of Galaxia's cathedral was glorious with its beautifully gold-stained glass windows and perfect ceiling structures. Past the pews and above the small flight of stairs stood one of Galaxia's victims tied against a cross.

Hyper Mini Moon took a good look at them and gasped with total shock. "Everyone!"

The young heroine's friends looked to where she pointed and indeed saw their victimized allies lying on the floor, all underneath Amy who was hanging on the cross.

Super Sonic's anger flared up as well as Super Shadow's, so they lunged forward to save their friends however were knocked backwards and tumbled to the floor.

"Sailor Galaxia." Mars uttered this name with a cold tone.

This woman who lived during the Sailor Wars and survived it... who'd sealed Chaos within herself as a means to end the Sailor Wars but fell under its influence... stood before Sonic Moon in the flesh. Her aura was darker than any demon Mars had ever dealt with as a priestess.

Hyper Sailor Moon tried her best to stand tall and face Galaxia. To know that this was the person who sent those soldiers after her to steal the Silver Crystal almost overwhelmed her, but she knew she shouldn't be afraid.

The Super Hedgehogs got up from the ground and glared at their enemy, watching her laugh and cross her arms.

"So, we meet again, hedgehog," Galaxia began, "All those years ago, you thought you defeated me, but you let your arrogance make you forget who I am."

"Nope, I remember you as clear as day," Sonic put away his glare and became cocky by slipping on a grin, "I think you're the one who forgot me. This isn't the Silver Millenium anymore. We've got the Sailor Scouts on our side now."

Galaxia cracked a grin then teleported back to where Amy was to aim an orb of golden light at her.

"Amy!" Hyper Venus cried.

**-Song Insert ends-**

Super Knuckles wanted to rush towards Galaxia and beat her to a pulp, but Hyper Uranus and Hyper Neptune held the fiesty echidna back.

Super Sonic remembered the deal Galaxia hoped to make with them. He had a hard time deciding as each outcome was both a great risk. He could give up the Chaos Emeralds, thus giving Galaxia power to fulfill her goal, or he could see one of his most cherised, closest friends be killed before his eyes. The hedgehog looked to Amy and began to feel his heart pounding faster.

Hyper Sailor Moon couldn't decide either, as her heart was slowly winning over her mind. None of her friends deserved to be brought into this. Luna. Artemis. Diana. Amy. Cream. Vanilla. Cheese. Bocoe. Decoe. Bokkun. Omochao.

"Everyone..." Hyper Sailor Moon looked to the Super Hedgehogs and saw the way they looked at Amy. So she turned her eyes back to Galaxia and started walking up to her.

"Sailor Moon-" Mars motioned to grabbing her ally's hand but the pigtailed heroine had already stepped away.

Sonic and Shadow were surprised by Hyper Sailor Moon's actions as well as they watched her go up to Galaxia and form a proposition.

"... we'll give you the emeralds in exchange for our friends."

Everyone reacted with shock at what was just said.

Knuckles yelled out, "Serena!", but Galaxia had already agreed to their deal and began waiting for Hyper Sailor Moon to get the emeralds from Super Sonic.

"We don't have a choice." Hyper Sailor Moon looked into Super Sonic's eyes and hoped he would come to understand her choice.

He wasn't one to throw in the towel and give in so soon, but she looked so sad and helpless about the situation, that he-

"AMAZONESS... JUNGLE ARROW!" A concentrated burst of power was combined into a single arrow and from out of nowhere, went flying into Galaxia's chest. It caused her to scream in agonizing pain, be engulfed in the arrow's blinding light and disappear afterwards.

Everyone uncovered their eyes after this light vanished and Galaxia was nowhere to be found.

"What was that just now?" Super Knuckles asked as he looked around the room.

"It looked like someone shot Galaxia with an arrow," Super Tails answered the echidna's question.

"That would be us."

Super Tails, Super Knuckles, along with the other heroes looked up above and found four new, mysterious Sailor Soldiers each standing on different wooden poles.

Super Sonic gasped at their arrival and watched as they all leapt down from the ceiling. The light pouring in through this cathedral's windows made these four new heroes shine like mystical magical beings. Grown into their backs were angel wings like the Sailor Scouts's.

Earlier today, Super Tails had mentioned seeing something like this in Mars's vision, so Super Sonic realized it to be true as he heard Super Tails and Mars both look in realization too. This quadruplet had to be those same four angels!

"Ceres?" Hyper Sailor Moon asked confusedly, "What're you doing here? Why're you and your sisters in Sailor Soldier Uniforms?"

"Because we're Small Lady Serenity's guardians."

Ceres further introduced her and her team mates as the Sailor Quartet, the team who was destined to be Hyper Mini Moon's guardians as she became a Sailor Soldier and met Diana. They were first known as the Amazoness Quartet who served Queen Nehelenia, but now they were Sailor Vesta, Sailor Ceres, Sailor Pallas, and Sailor Jun.

"We were awakened from our stones because we were told that Small Lady Serenity was in danger," said Ceres, "The Queen told us that it was time for us to come here and protect Small Lady Serenity as she continues her training." Ceres noticed an unconscious Diana. "But it looks like her pet hasn't grown up yet."

Together, the Sailor Quartet walked over to Sonic Moon's unconscious friends. Pallas took Diana into her arms then along with her allies, gave the kitten some of their power by sending it through their tiara gems.

Everyone remained silent as they did this, Artemis's eyes slowly opening while it took place. He gasped when he noticed the Sailor Quartet, then got up to his feet.

Luna opened her eyes and reacted in the same manner. Four mysterious Sailor Soldiers were holding her daughter and giving her their powers. She was sure she remembered these four from somewhere, but at the moment her mind was too foggy.

Hyper Mini Moon could only watch what happened next in amazement. Diana had recieved enough power and before everyone's eyes, in a soft white glow, matured into the older kitten that she was predestined to be.

The light disappeared and she landed safely in Pallas arms, so Pallas handed her to her parents and told them that now she would be ready to help Small Lady Serenity. They were speechless and so overjoyed for this day to finally come, but they already knew it would.

Soon, Amy and the other characters who'd been unconscious woke up and were approached by Super Sonic, Super Shadow, Super Tails, and Super Knuckles, who were embraced tightly and thanked for coming to save them. Although, Super Knuckles was almost made irritated when Bocoe and Docoe latched on to him.

"Alright, alright. No need to get all mushy about it."

Amy finally let go of Sonic and turned to faced the Sailor Scouts. "Why does everyone look different? Is there a costume party?"

"No," Sonic laughed, "We taught them how to use the Chaos Emeralds, so now they can go super too."

With their mission completed, the Sailor Quartet went over to Hyper Mini Moon and surrounded her, Ceres being the first to speak.

"Galaxia is gone, but not for good. She'll be back to try and wreak more havoc, so in the meantime you can continue your training with Diana to help you," Ceres gave a sweet smile.

"But I still don't understand who all of you are. In the 30th Century, I get my own team?"

"Yeah, kid," answered Jun, "We've been sleeping in the Amazon-"

"-until it you inherited your destiny and became able to stand on your on with it," Pallas finished Jun's sentence.

Hyper Mini Moon realized these words as she looked down at herself and remembered this super state she was in. She was ready now.

When looking at all of these Asteroid Soldiers, Hyper Mini Moon sensed their closeness and connection to one another. They had all been so close to one another that they didn't have the chance to branch out and each grow into their own personalities, making them almost similar.

"Just think of us as your guardian angels," Vesta winked and smiled down at her future-leader.

* * *

_**-Serena's House-**_

Crickets chirped their tunes softly as night time came along and poured its stars down on the sky. With another adventurous day drawn to a close, Sonic Moon returned to their sleeping places and settled themselves in.

Ikuko and Kenji wondered why they'd only seen Serena come back home with only her new blue friend, but Serena explained to them that Rini had been invited to spend the night at her friend, Ceres's place. So with that discussion concluded, Serena led Sonic to her room and were surprised as they noticed a familiar cat sitting on the windowsill.

"Luna!" Serena walked over to her cat, "You didn't want to spend your last night with Artemis at Tails's place?"

"No, we both decided to both return to our original homes, so now everything is back to normal."

"Call me paranoid, but it doesn't sound like you're alright with that," Sonic wore a concerned frown.

Luna let out a silent sigh. "Sonic's right. "I made a promise to Queen Serenity that I would find the Moon Princess and teach her how to become Sailor Moon. I've grown to care for her like my student or pupil, but these past few weeks I've spent with Artemis and Diana... made me so happy."

Serena and Sonic found themselves quiet as what Luna said made them speechless. They had never seen her act this way before.

Luna felt a soft hand be set on her back. She looked up and found Sonic to be in front of her.

"If you were happy being with them, then you should always be with them. They're your family now," the hedgehog gave a warm smile.

"But my place is here in Crossroads City, with the Sailor Scouts. In the past, Serena and the other girls argued over where Diana would stay, and so I just don't want to cause anything like that again. If we were to have our own place that wasn't far away, then that would be different."

Immediately, the light bulb in Serena's head turned on. "I got it! You guys can stay at Darien's place."

Sonic became startled at this idea Serena just proposed, meanwhile Luna was unsure about it.

"Serena, it would be to Darien if he decided that. You shouldn't decide for him when it's not even your house."

"Come on, Luna! Why would Darien say no? Sure, he's gone at work all the time, but he's understanding. There's enough space in his apartment for the three of you. Just let me ask him about it tomorrow and I'll tell you what he says."

"Alright, Serena," Luna tried to wear a smile, "Well, it's getting pretty late now. I will see you and Sonic in the morning."

"G'night Luna," Sonic flashed a smile then turned around to go towards his bed on the floor.

Serena also went to her bed, having more space to herself this time since Rini was with the Sailor Quartet in Crystal Tokyo... she had to admit, these passing moments weren't the same without that pink child around. "That Rini's growing up so fast... soon she'll be fighting crime and saving the innocent just like I started out."

Rini's future-mother ended these thoughts with a smile on her face. Hopefully, within these last few weeks, everyone gave Rini correction and helped her mature into the person she was today; for now it was her time to start fufilling her own Sailor Soldier duties just as her mother had when she was younger; finding herself, discovering her allies, and becoming their leader.

* * *

_**-Crossroads City-**_

BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Driving his motorcycle in order to get to work, Darien took the call from his watch and saw it to be from none other than Serena. "Hey!"

"Good morning, Darien!" Serena replied with a sing-song tone, "You're on your way to work right now?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I was wondering if I could ask you something." In a brief manner, Serena explained Luna's dilemma and that it was Serena's idea to see if Darien could be of help.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind. When I come home from work, I'll open the apartment door to let them come in and get settled." By this time, Darien had passed another streetlight and would have to slow down because the next one was red. "Serena. I'm sorry I haven't been able to come around that much."

"No, it's fine. I'm here and I'll always support you, because you're my boyfriend."

"Thanks, Serena," Darien's lips curled into a tiny smile. "See you later."

"Bye bye."

* * *

_**-Mugen Academy-**_

This was it. After discussing the tragic downfall of Juuban High School to her parents and getting their needed permission, now Ami was enrolled in Mugen Academy and back on track with her education.

She approached the school gates with her same black book bag in her hand.

This academy that Ami was entering was originally used as a front by Professor Souichi Tomoe, the leader and sole mastermind of the Death Busters. After being defeated obviously, they had no more reason to use it, but a professor from Serena's neighborhood discovered it after visiting its district, Sankakusu. And so after seeing its vacancy and having a meeting with the Tokyo Bay School District, he was given the permission to be on its school staff, so it became the improved institution that it was today.

This new uniform with its burgundy and green colors felt much different for Ami. But it wouldn't take that long for her to get used to it. What would take much longer getting acquainted with though was the fact that her friends wouldn't get to graduate with her.

"How did things come to this? All those times in junior high... when we would eat lunch together... have hilarious study sessions..." Ami chuckled a bit at this last part. "Help Serena with her entrance exams when she didn't know who else to turn to... all of those memories have led us to this... not being able to finish high school together."

Once stepping onto actual Mugen Academy grounds, Ami didn't spot Amara or Michelle like she expected, but off in the distance she did discover someone who caught her eye. In the midst of Mugen Academy's students, a particular individual caused Ami to gasp and cover her mouth while accidentally letting her bag slip from her fingers.


	29. Chapter 29

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Sweeping the shrine grounds was a task usually left in the hands of Chad or Grandpa Hino, but today, Rei decided to take hold of the broom.

This Hikawa priestess had been stressed out from what she learned about her school. But maybe, in some strange, fateful way, she wasn't supposed to be there. It wasn't her fault that things became the way they were now. She could only deal with it and use her free time doing other things.

It'd always been Rei's dream to someday become the head priest of Hikawa Shrine, so along with being Sailor Mars, she would work towards that. Also, Rei had asked Tails if he could teach her how to use the Chaos Emeralds so that she fight alongside her team mates better; for she believed it didn't make sense to not also be acquainted with Chaos Energy even if her Crystal Change Rod was okay.

"Rei!"

Rei looked up to notice Amy and stopped sweeping as the hedgehog approached her.

"So, I came here like you asked me," Amy began with a cheerful tone. "Do you need help running the booth?"

"No, but thanks anyway. I called you over here to give you this."

Amy watched Rei reach for something from under her shirt... and became oh so speechless when she saw what it was. "Sonic! As a doll!" Amy was handed this plush figure and once it touched her fingers, she squealed and hugged it.

"Yeah. Believe it or not, Trista gave it to me."

Amy looked back up at Rei with widened eyes. "Really? Why?"

"It was the day before we first left for Green Hill Zone. She told me to give it to you so you'll have something to think of Sonic by when you're not near him."

Amy acknowledged Rei's words then looked back down at her new doll. It's face was so cute just like the hedgehog it was sewn to resemble. "Thank you, Rei!" Amy moved her attention away from the Sonic doll and hugged Rei. "This means a lot to me."

Once Amy let go of Rei, Rei noticed her beginning to look sad. So she asked her what was wrong.

"It's just... yesterday, I really made you and Sonic mad at me. I messed up, big time."

Rei mentally agreed with this but reacted otherwise by kneeling down and laying her hand on Amy's shoulder. "But you admitted your mistake and that's what counts. You know not to do it again. Now that you have this Sonic doll, you can learn how to keep your feelings for Sonic under control."

"Is it that obvious?"

When Rei thought Amy was asking this question with actual puzzlement, she instead watched Sonic's fangirl blush and put her hands to her reddened cheeks.

"Well, the cat had to come out of the bag sooner or later! Yes, I'm in love with Sonic! Someday we'll be married!"

Rei sighed as an anime sweatdrop appeared on her head.

"Hey Rei, you're an expert on love! Why don't you read your shrine's fire and see what it says about Sonic and me?"

"That's not how it works."

Amy grew puzzled by what was just said. "What do you mean?"

"When I look into the fire, first I recite the Symbol of Nine Protective Characters. I only receive visions if it allows me, it's not like going to a fortune teller or reading tarot cards."

"Did you say tarot cards?"

Rei arched her eyebrow curiously. "Yeah. You're familiar with that sort of thing?"

"That 's how I knew I would meet Sonic!" Amy piped with reborn excitement, "During the Silver Millenium, I discovered my talent for tarot cards and could always predict events related to this planet that used to hover in the sky. I was surprised myself, but I kept practicing and seeing the events I predicted come true, until one day... the cards told me I would meet someone on that planet who would change my life..." Amy's mind took her back to that day Sonic rescued her from Little Planet. "... the minute I laid my eyes on him, that's when everything changed. So at the end of that day, I decided to leave home and follow Sonic to where ever the wind took him. That probably would've been the only opportunity I'd have if I wanted to see him again, so I took it."

Rei found herself being touched by Amy's story. "That's wonderful, Amy. I never would've thought that that's how you and Sonic met."

"Yeah, it is," Amy stared into space with her mind fixated on Sonic and her memories.

"Since you're so gifted with reading tarot cards, why don't you just read them again and see if they tell you anything?"

"That would be a great idea, but while I was packing my things to leave with Sonic, I accidentally left my cards behind and forgot about them."

"Oh... well, it's okay. I'll see if the fire reveals anything to me."

"Rei, thank you so much!" Amy embraced the priestess again. "And I'll make sure to take extra good care of this doll! It's just so adorable and soft!"

Rei reacted to Amy's girlish behavior with a small smile. Over the course of time that Amy Rose had spent with the Sailor Scouts, she'd learned to be more independent and responsible. Though the way she acted over Sonic would never change.

* * *

After riding buses and doing so much running, Ami made her way up Hikawa Shrine's staircase to see all of her friends already waiting for her in the circle they'd formed in front of Rei's home. So Ami joined it and prepared to speak.

She still found herself panting from all of the running she'd done to get over here, but soon she was okay and could explain her situation. "Everyone... now I know this was sudden, but there's a very good reason for why I've called you all here."

Team Dark. Team Chaotix. The Rabbit Family, with the addition of Bocoe, Decoe, Bokkun, and Omochao. Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy. Darien and the rest of the Sailor Scouts. Ami eyed all of these individuals before finishing what she had to say. "Some of you know that today I've transferred schools and now attend Mugen Academy like Amara and Michelle. While I was entering it and looking around at everything, I happened to spot someone who looked awfully familiar."

"Who was it?" Charmy asked innocently.

"Well... this is just my opinion... but I believe one of our former enemies has came back."

Ami took in all of the shocked gasps she received. Everyone was on edge now because of her statement, but she'd spoken the truth.

"What former enemy?" asked Espio.

"Eggman!"

Everyone turned to Omega who raised a clenched fist and was ready to rush down to Ami's new school.

"Omega, now wait a minute!" Rouge lifted her voice, "The mention of a former enemy doesn't mean you get to go commando and burn Ami's school down looking for them."

"So I suppose you have a better idea of who Ami is referring to?" Omega shifted his bright red eyes to Rouge.

"I think what Rouge is saying is we shouldn't go to this school without making a plan," Sonic tried putting Omega to ease.

"You make a good point, Sonic," Michelle pointed out, "Rushing into something without first forming a strategy is pointless. So who thinks they have any ideas that we can try to solve this mystery?"

"Miss Michelle, I think the Chaotix Detective Agency can take it from here." Vector stepped into the middle of the circle with his arms crossed and chest puffed out. "Solvin' mysteries is our specialty. Just leave this case to us!"

"Hmph!" Shadow scoffed at Vector, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're trying to bite off more than you can chew. The best strategy would be for all of us to go in case this former enemy tries to unleash something."

Vector verily disliked what was just said and stepped over to Shadow, his giant body towering over his muscular but smaller one. "You're sayin' you don't think the boys and I can handle this one solo?"

"I'm saying it's unwise."

"Alright, break it up, you two." Lita moved Vector away from Shadow for him to go back to where he was standing earlier. Then she turned back to face everyone else. "So let's say we did all go to Mugen Academy. How would we go about finding this guy and seeing if he's really an old enemy without getting caught?"

"I say we disguise ourselves as students and sneak into the academy," suggested Artemis.

"What?" Vector gawked with his jaw hanging open.

"It's sounds so dangerous that it just might work," Rouge thought out loud, "Artemis, I like the way you think!"

"Woah, let's back up for a second. How would we disguise ourselves if we don't have any uniforms to begin with?" Sonic asked worriedly.

"By using the Luna Pen." Luna looked over to Serena and smiled up at her.

"Huh? The Luna Pen? Luna, are you sure?" Serena asked with the same tone as Sonic's, "I thought it only worked on whoever's holding it."

"Wait, sorry if I interrupt. But what's this Luna Pen?" Tails interjected.

"The Luna Pen is a device that I gave Serena when we first met and I was helping her take down the Negaverse. It lets its user turn themselves into whatever they want, so I'm sure if Serena asks to change all of us, then it will listen to her."

"Wait, so let me get this straight." Knuckles made a pause to form his next set of words. "This pen of yours lets someone change into any disguise they want? Anything they wish?"

"Mhm. Which is why I had a few issues with Serena about it."

"Alright, Luna. There's no need to get into any of that right now," Serena insisted with nervousness.

"This is so cool! With that pen, I could ask it to change me into a robot! Or a ninja like Espio!"

"Charmy, Luna's pen isn't a toy!" Vector yelled at his younger friend.

"Mother. Is it alright if Cheese and I get changed by Serena's pen too?" Cream asked Vanilla.

"Of course, sweetheart. I know Luna wouldn't suggest anything that would bring us any harm."

"Well, if that pen really does the trick then I say we give a shot," Sonic gave his full input.

"I believe we should give it a try too," came Espio's emotionless voice, "What do you think, Vector?"

"Sure, why not? We've got nothin' ta' lose."

"Then it's settled." Espio looked to Serena. "Serena. Activate the Luna Pen and use its powers to change us into a group of Mugen Academy students."

Serena nodded then looked to Luna who first needed to summon the Luna Pen from subspace. Once the cat did a graceful backflip and her wand appeared, Serena took it from the ground and studied its recognizable features. It'd been two years since she saw this thing.

Next, the odango-haired girl stepped in the middle of her friends' circle and asked if they were ready. With all of their answers given, she raised the Luna Pen above her head. Rainbow streams of light shot out of the red crystal atop this item, then swooped around and went back in with a flash of pink light.

"DISGUISE POWER! Change me, and my friends, into excellent Mugen Academy students!"

"Woah!" Omochao along with Bocoe, Bokkun, and Decoe shouted as they felt themselves be lifted from the ground.

They along with the rest of the group appeared sihouletted against a beautiful full moon, all cluttered together. Those had hair and fur felt it be ruffled in a cool breeze, then, in a flash of light... they appeared in the disguises Serena had chosen.

"No way!" Amy gasped at the new attire she was in and felt its fabric to see that it was the real thing. "We really look like Mugen Academy students now!"

Sonic, who was never used to throwing on clothes, looked down at himself and had to admit he looked pretty sharp. He'd turned around as he heard Rouge say something.

"Wow, Big Blue. That suit looks really good on Shadow and you." Rouge turned her eyes to Knuckles and would've said the same thing, but the echidna caught her flirtatious smile and looked another way.

Sonic turned his sights to the Ultimate Life Form and discovered the way he didn't show much interest in his sophisticated outfit. "Hey Shadow. What do you think of these suits?"

Shadow examined his and everyone else's uniforms, seeing that they consisted of red shirts and striped-green bottoms, skirts and chest bows for the girls, pants and ties for the boys. He didn't have much to say about it. "They're fine." Even though Shadow had nothing more to say, the hedgehog was distracted as he heard how the girls began to react over Bokkun and Cheese.

"Awww!" he could hear Mina say.

"You two look so adorable in these uniforms! You both look like you're being sent off to elementary school," Mina continued.

"My children... both looking so handsome," Vanilla smiled sweetly.

Bokkun couldn't help but blush at all of the attention he was getting. Decoe, on the other hand, was feeling pretty negative about the whole thing. "Bokkun is dressed in a suit and the girls are all over him. Since when did he become the center of attention?"

"Decoe, it sounds to me as if you're jealous of Bokkun," Omochao stated to his pal.

"I'm not jealous. I just don't see how the ladies always fall for him."

"It's his charm," Vector let himself into this conversation, "The ladies can't resist his little innocent face."

"Oh. So it seems that Vector is the expert on women now," Bocoe said sternly.

"What? Of course I'm the expert!" Vector popped his new collar.

"Very well. If what you say is true, then go over there to Miss Vanilla and win her heart with your dashingly good looks," Bocoe retorted with sarcasm at the end.

Vector's ego disappeared once he heard Vanilla's name and felt the scales on his back stand up. The crocodile gulped but put down his worry since Bocoe had pressured him. "F-fine."

While Vector could be seen stuttering and fumbling while trying to impress Vanilla, the Moon Cats began strategizing on how Sonic Moon should infiltrate Mugen Academy.

"The Sailor Scouts are already familiar with Mugen Academy's layout, so I would suggest we split up into three teams. The first team stays outside to keep watch for anything unusual. Sonic, you will be the captain for that team."

"Cool!" Sonic replied with a thumbs up.

"Amara. You and Michelle as the second and third captain's will take your teams inside the school and split up to search for clues. Find out everything you can and make sure not to look suspicious."

Luna's chosen captains all nodded as their plans were now decided and set in stone. They wasted no time in picking members for their team and heading for the academy.

* * *

_**-Entrance to Mugen Academy-**_

For obvious reasons, Omega was placed on Sonic's team and assured that he would be notified of the former enemy's identity once Amara or Michelle discovered with the E-Series Robot on Sonic's team was Rei, Rini, Charmy, and the Rabbit Family.

Those assigned to Michelle's team were Mina, Artemis, Ami, Rouge, Knuckles, and Vector.

And finally, Amara had chosen to recruit Shadow, Amy, Tails, Serena, Luna, Lita, and Espio.

"Alright, everyone. This is it," Luna declared with a calm tone as they stood at the gated entrance. "This academy is so large that it can be like a maze. But Amara and Michelle have learned its rooms inside and out, so you can always contact them if you get lost. Oh, and also... watch out for the security guards."

With everything summed up and not much else to say, Sonic and his team began walking aimlessly around the area while Amara and Michelle led their teams to the front doors.

The sounds of glass doors opening filled the room as Amara and Michelle led their allies in to the Mugen Academy Main Hall.

"Amara. You guys take the first floor so you can search through the Philosophy and Science divisions. Me and my team while go upstairs to look through the Physical, Professional, and Entertainment divisions."

After waiting for a security guard to walk away from their post, Michelle sneaked her way to an elevator door and one by one, everyone behind her also went inside it. The doors closed and it was time for Michelle to press the button for the second floor.

"Ami, you never actually described this former enemy to us. So how do we go about finding them?" Mina asked out loud.

"Like what all detectives do. Look for anything suspicious and keep a close eye on it," Vector answered Mina's question.

"Well, the reason that I didn't describe their appearance to you is because... I really don't want to be wrong. They looked so much like Eggman, but there's no way that he could've survived that explosion a few weeks ago."

"I know what you mean."

Ami looked at Rouge who sent this statement and listened to the rest of what she had to say.

"Eggman's IQ is 300, but what he did goes beyond all understanding. So who knows? Maybe the person you saw was his distant relative."

Ami hoped so.

The elevator chimed as it reached the selected floor and its doors opened. Everyone stepped out of it and huddled as their captain had something she needed to say.

"Everyone. We'll split and search each room for this mystery man or for anything you think is a clue. Contact me if you find anything. This academy's doors will be locked soon so we don't have any time to spare."

"What?" Amy replied as Amara had explained this same thing to her and the other comrades on her team. "Well that doesn't give us much time then."

"That's what I'm getting at." Amara shifted her eyes to her other friends. "When one of you finds this guy, just approach him casually. Don't let him know that you find him suspicious but just try to find out his occupation and his name."

"Affirmative," Espio replied with a serious tone.

From this point on, Espio and his allies split up and began walking around the halls and checking all of the rooms on the first floor.

* * *

_**-Outside Mugen Academy-**_

Cream let out a cute yawn as she, her mother, Cheese, and Rini sat underneath an oak tree. They weren't sure how long they'd been sitting out here, but it felt like forever.

Omochao and the other robots became so bored that they revealed goldfish cards and started a game until someone yelled out, Goldfish!" and it was over.

"What? How did Decoe win?" Omochao asked in defeat, "Clearly, I was in the lead!"

"Nothing suspicious is taking place," Omega said to Sonic and Rei who were sitting beside a bush, "We should join the others inside and help them look for Eggman."

"Just wait, Omega." Sonic stood to his feet and took off in a rush of blue wind to scan the whole front and back yard of Mugen Academy, returning to Omega in less than two seconds. "Nothing suspicious so far."

Omega sighed and left it at that.

"Omega, what is it that you had against Eggman?" Rei asked the robot.

"You should only know that it is something that I plan to take revenge for. He will face my wrath."

* * *

_**-Inside Mugen Academy-**_

After looking through the first three classrooms and not finding anything, Knuckles moved on to the next room with Rouge the Bat following him for the oddest reason.

"Out of all the people Michelle chose, why are you following me? We were supposed to split up."

Rouge hushed Knuckles as she put a finger to her lips. Their shoes clicked as they walked down the hallway, hopefully not too loud for any of the security guards to hear anyway.

"I already checked the other half of this division, so I figured I'd watch your back in case security shows up."

"I don't need any help looking out for them." Knuckles made his point clear, but realized Rouge was still walking beside him, so he sighed and decided to forget shooing the bat away.

The division that the treasure hunters had been assigned to was professional, so they made their way through the other half by checking more of its classrooms. In the professional division, students were offered classes like Business Management and Organizational Behavior. So the classrooms were practical with their long rows of seats and ancient green chalkboards.

Knuckles continued walking until he and Rouge came up to another door, but soon they heard a third pair of feet and immediately moved for a place to hide.

A stern security guard entered the hallway and looked both ways as he crossed, making sure to check everything. There wasn't anyone present, so he made a left turn and continued into where he would enter the Physical Division.

Rouge breathed a sigh of relief as she and Knuckles came down from the wall and landed on their feet. She wasn't expecting that security guard to show up when he did. "That was close."

"No kidding." Knuckles put his focus back on entering the door they were in front of and nothing more. He twisted the knob and made his way in.

While he and Rouge checked this classroom's desk and around it's seats, Rouge revealed that she'd had to sit inside rooms like this as she and her friend Topaz had to attend G.U.N.'s Spy Academy.

"You had to attend an academy in order to become a government spy?" Knuckles asked with disbelief.

"Yes, unfortunately. My skills already surpassed some of those on our team, but that was just the way G.U.N. set it up. It's good to know that you think that highly of me," Rouge flashed a flirty smile.

"What? No, that's not what I meant," a dark blush filled Knuckles's face, "Don't twist my words like that."

"Oh, Knuckie, I was just playing with you. You need to learn how to loosen up." Rouge would've said more to tease Knuckles, but the door opened before anyone could realize it and they almost screamed at who they saw.

"Eggman!"

As befuddled and shocked as the treasure hunters were, they frightened this figure and caused them to turn their heel and run. He looked just like their nemesis, except he was much thinner and looked a bit younger.

He panted as he ran his fastest to get down the hallway away from his new assaulters. Where had they come from? They wore this academy's uniform, but he had never seen any students like them with their unusual features.

"He's getting away!" Rouge said as she prepared to spread her wings apart. Thankfully, they poked out of her shirt so she could still fly, so she started flying while Knuckles still ran.

The same security guard picked up sounds of someone running towards him, so he looked and noticed one of Mugen Academy's newest science professors, Dr. Julian Kintobor.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Julian stopped to a halt in front of the security guard and regained his composure; for those students had almost given him a heart attack.

"Dr. Kintobor. Just what are you running from?"

While the security guard began talking to Julian, Knuckles and Rouge stayed behind a nearby wall to eavesdrop. They acted fast to contact Michelle and let her know that they found who they were searching for.

"... students? Well school has ended for today. I don't see why anymore would still be here. I'll call some of the other security guards and ask them to help investigate this."

"Thank you, sir!" Julian clasped his hands together, "Now, if you could just tell me where the Science Division is, then I would really appreciate that. This is my second day here and I am still having some difficulty remembering where everything is."

"What you're looking for is back on the first floor. Take the elevator then head west."

"Thank you again." With everything cleared up and said, Julian walked away from the security guard and headed towards the path he was given.

Rouge ended her call with Michelle and looked back up at Knuckles. "We need to get out of here and regroup with the others back at the shrine."

"And let Eggman off scot free? Why?"

"I'm just telling you what she told me!" Rouge immediately hushed herself as she heard more footsteps begin to enter the atmosphere. "That's our cue." The bat hurried towards the nearest classroom and opened a window so she and Knuckles could make their escape. He glided and she flew until they reached Hikawa Shrine, frustrated with how this entire operation turned out.


	30. Chapter 30

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

By now, it was sunset.

Having held a meeting to discuss their situation with Eggman and Mugen Academy, Sonic Moon dealt with having to hear Rouge and Knuckles bicker and blame each other about the outcome.

"Now I think we've heard enough from both of you!" Vanilla surprisingly raised her voice.

The treasure hunters stopped and looked dumbfounded at how the gentle mother did this. Even she didn't think she would ever behave like this, but she had a limit with her emotions just like everyone else. After Vanilla silenced herself, she stepped back and let her friends think about the way they'd acted just now.

"Rouge. Knuckles. We know you didn't mean to react the way you did. We're still having a hard time accepting it too, but bickering and pointing fingers at each other doesn't make it any better." After Serena said this, she looked at Sonic... wait! "Uh... guys? W-where did Sonic go?" Serena looked every which way but didn't see that hedgehog at all. "He was here just a second ago!"

Serena's other friends began to look around for their blue friend too, but he'd seemed to vanish into thin air.

"Sonic is gone?" Omochao asked fearfully.

"Why would he just leave all of a sudden?" asked Lita, "Do you think maybe he had to go do something?"

With his arms crossed, Shadow pondered on this question as well. Personally, he didn't care what Sonic's affairs were. But he did know this: Amy, Rouge, Tails, and the rest of Sonic's friends cared. In strange, unreal sort of way, he cared when he saw the way they worried over the Blue Blur.

"He wouldn't just leave without telling anyone!" With no one to stop her, Amy ran towards the Hikawa Shrine stairs in search of her blue hero.

"Amy!" Serena and her friends began chasing after the pink hedgehog though couldn't catch up to her as she'd already made it more than halfway down the street. They watched her go on as they'd reached the bottom of the stairs and didn't know what to do next.

Cream called for Amy but obviously didn't get a reply, so she embraced her mother when she grabbed her attention. "Mother. We can't let Amy leave like this."

Shadow went over to Cream and Vanilla some moments after she said this, telling them that he would go after Amy and so they and the rest of their friends could go home and sleep without any worries.

"Shadow, thank you," said a grateful Vanilla.

* * *

_**-Rainbow Bridge-**_

This bridge intersecting the Azabu and Odaiba District lit up once more as the sky darkened and the moon and stars came out to glow. Cars down below and driving along it looked like fireflies with their front white headlights. Along with the lit up buildings that surrounded this area of Tokyo Bay was very beautiful.

Sonic was glad to have chosen this place to come and relax in. The towers supporting Rainbow Bridge harmonized with Tokyo's skyline while the wires were illuminated into a soft series of colors, so he enjoyed sitting on the very top and taking in its view.

Back home in Crossroads City, Sonic Moon hadn't been so successful with their plan of going into Mugen Academy and tracking down Eggman to find out why he was back. Knuckles and Rouge started arguing with each other about it, until Sonic couldn't put up with it and he decided to leave.

The hedgehog sucked in a breath and looked down at the constant cars that were driving by. The streets never seemed to be empty, so he kept his eyes glued to them as he thought to different events that happened these past few weeks. His ears perked up as he noticed something besides cars lurking down on the sidewalk. A man with a white labcoat. Orange mustache. Blue glasses. "Eggman?"

Quickly, Sonic got up and prepared to leap down to have a closer look at this character. Though because of too much eagerness and anxiety over the situation, he tripped and fell down to danger rather than land on his feet.

Julian might've been mistaken, but he heard a thud come from behind him and so he turned around to discover a blue animal lying on ground with his face in its pavement.

"Oh my!" As Julian continued looking at this spiny creature, he still couldn't make out what Sonic was exactly.

A moan escaped the hedgehog's lips and soon he picked himself up from the ground and dusted himself off.

"Uhh..." Julian could not find the words to say in a situation such as this. He saw Sonic turn around and face him. Watching him give his attention was the easiest part, but when their eyes locked onto each other... no one could seem to... speak.

Julian gasped as random flashbacks tried to invade his mind. They all came at once and so he clutched his head and fell to his knees, not knowing that this worried Sonic and now the hedgehog was becoming concerned for him.

"Hey." Sonic gained Julian's attention as the professor regained control over his mind and calmed down. "It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you."

Julian's mind took him back to earlier when he remembered Knuckles and Rouge chasing after him. It made him shudder when thinking about how intent they looked on capturing him. They looked sort of like this blue creature here, so possibly, there was a connection.

"Who are you?" Julian asked Sonic innocently.

It had been easy telling Julian that he wouldn't hurt him, but standing face-to-face with his longtime-nemesis made Sonic feel so in denial. This guy couldn't actually be the same Eggman, as he was evil-less and too innocent. It just couldn't work that way, right?

Julian waited for about two minutes until he finally received a response. "Do you know how to speak?"

"Yeah, and lots of other things." Sonic mustered up his courage and spoke again. "Look, Eggman. If you've decided to cut back on the Chaos Cola and slim down, then that's okay. But the jig is up!"

Julian grew confused and a bit afraid of Sonic now. "I don't believe I understand anything you said just now. I prefer to eat as a vegetarian, and I have always been this slim because of that."

Sonic blinked confusedly and was stunned by what he heard. What was going on here?

"And if I may ask, who is Eggman? My name is Doctor Julian Kintobor."

This wasn't happening!

"Julian Kintobor?"

"Yes, that's me." Julian could still feel himself being uninformed of something that Sonic wasn't telling him. "But who is Eggman? Why do you call me that?"

"Well, because that's who you are, who you used to be anyway." Sonic shook his head in frustration and finally let out a deep breath to cool down. "Okay, how about we just go our separate ways and pretend like this didn't happen?"

"Umm..." Julian thought about this suggestion but still couldn't help but feel that something this situation didn't feel right.

Oh, who was Sonic kidding? He couldn't deny that missing fragment either. He sighed and tried to get his composure back. "Nah, what am I saying? Look, let me just ask you a few questions."

"That would be okay. What is it you would like to know?"

"First off, what's up with your last name?" Sonic couldn't shake off the fact that Kintobor was the opposite of his nemesis's name.

"Well, that is just the same last name as my father, and his father."

"Okay. What're you doing here in Tokyo?"

"I've always lived here in Tokyo. I work at the academy that was recently remodeled in the Sankakusu District."

"You're a teacher?"

"Well, I think I've done enough discussing for the night, so I'll be on my way." Julian simply turned on his heel and started pacing away from Sonic. This animal was questioning him without reason and acting surprised as if Julian held suspicions about himself.

"Wait!" Sonic reappeared in front of Julian, almost scaring the man away.

"How did you appear in front of me just now?" Julian stared at Sonic with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

"Eh?" Sonic watched Julian kneel down look at his shoes before he could speak.

He seemed to be so awestruck by his shoes that he took off his glasses to have a better view. There never was a time where the doctor revealed his eyes because they frightened anyone who saw them. These same piercing red eyes with the black irises that Sonic saw when he was a kid.

"Where did you get these shoes from?" Julian asked after what seemed like an eternity.

"I don't know..." Sonic found himself sitting down and beginning to take off his shoes for Julian to see after the doctor put his eyewear back on. After both were off his feet, he continued explaining. "I've worn them for as long as I can remember and never bothered to find out who gave them to me."

Julian examined Sonic's sneakers as he took them from him. "These shoes appear to have been designed to reduce friction. Tell me... do you have an interest in exercise or track?"

"Well, if running goes under one of those, then yeah!" A toothed grin came on Sonic's lips. "I was born to run!"

Julian gave a light chuckle then returned Sonic his sneakers. "Then it only makes sense." Julian then stood back up. "Someone like you should have these shoes. Since their friction has been reduced, that means you can run at your full potential."

Exactly!" Sonic put his shoes back on, "That's why they call me Sonic."

"Sonic..." Julian muttered this name to himself as he'd heard it from somewhere once before, "That name sounds familiar, but I can't place my finger on it."

* * *

_**-Tokyo Tower-**_

With the desire to become acquainted and learn more about Sonic, Julian found himself asking the hedgehog if he would be interested in going to visit one of Tokyo's famous landmarks with him. This offer was gladly accepted, so Sonic found himself waiting inside an elevator to go up to the next floor with Julian.

While the elevator's casual music played, Julian noticed his new friend impatiently tapping his foot. "We're almost there."

Soon the elevator reached its point and its door opened for Julian and Sonic to step out. Julian was already familiar with Tokyo Tower's layout, so he was able to lead Sonic outside to the very top where they would be able to look at the moonlit city down below.

"This is an awesome view!" Sonic said as his emeralds eyes gazed down at the brilliant lights.

"That it is, my friend. Just from this tower, our eyes can scan all of Minato-ku's districts."

"How many are there, besides Azabu and the one we're in right now?"

"Well, there's also Roppongi and Odaiba. Roppongi lies north of Azabu and is the district that's known for it's booming nightlife."

"Booming nightlife? Sounds like that's where I'll have to go if I ever wanna party then," Sonic said with a toothless smile, "So what does Odaiba have to offer?"

"That district is where you go if you're looking for business and entertainment facilities. That's where I was on my way to while I was crossing the Rainbow Bridge actually."

"Odaiba's your hometown?"

"Yes, for now anyway. Ever since I became a professor at Mugen Academy, I've been trying to look for somewhere closer to its district." Having looked down the buildings for long enough, Julian looked up to face Sonic. "Sonic, I want to thank you for coming here with me. It was a pleasure to have met you and so I hope we will be able to come together again like this soon."

"Sure we can!" Sonic gave a thumbs up, "Better yet, I can introduce you to my other friends. Meet me here tomorrow so I can take you to them."

"I don't know..." Julian began to twiddle his thumbs, "For as long as I've lived here in Tokyo, I haven't joined any social clubs or made any acquaintances like I have with you. I am what you call an introvert."

After Julian came to admit this, Sonic began to develop a new outlook on him. This scientist looked just like Dr. Eggman, except his body type was different and he had a totally different personality. How could he not want to investigate that?

"Introvert or not, you shouldn't be afraid of meeting new people. Sometimes, there are people who have their ups and downs. But once you find the ones who will be there for you, that's when you know you're safe."

Julian began to meditate on Sonic's words but was speechless and couldn't think of what to say back. His words had reached so deep into the professor that they touched his heart. Unlike anything he ever experienced.

"So whadda' you say?" Sonic kept his eyes on Julian until the older male spoke back.

"... very well. I will meet you here tomorrow afternoon."

* * *

_**-Roppongi Hills-**_

Amy didn't know how, but she ended up in a district north of Azabu called Roppongi, in one of its areas named Roppongi Hills, the richest and most famous of cities in all of Minato-ku, Tokyo. A tycoon named Minoru Mori was the one responsible for constructing all of this city's buildings, whether it be apartments, office spaces, shops, cafes, resturants, movie theaters, a hotel, a museum, an outdoor amphitheater, a few parks, and an exclusive TV studio.

Out of breath but still with hope, Amy paced around this town sightseeing all of its scenes and finding delight in it. "This place is like, awesome!"

She excitedly put her face against the glass window of a resturant to peer inside and look around at all of its guests and decorations inside. Next, there came the entrance to a movie theater, and as of now it looked like they were playing an action-adventure movie called, "Big Trouble In Little Tokyo."

Dozens of teenagers and adults flooded the streets as they had the excitement and money to be able to go see this movie or go eat at a resturant or two. They chattered and laughed amongst each other while they walked down the street or passed by in their Mazada Miatas and Nissan Skyline GT-Rs. No where in the crowd did Amy spot any red sneakers or blue ears...

She sighed and retreated to a dark alley where she could sit in its darkness and collect her thoughts. Apparently, her intuition on Sonic's whereabouts was wrong as it led her here. Usually she traveled and traveled until he came into view, but this time she didn't see him anywhere.

"Where did he run off too?" With her conscience bothering her, Amy got up to her feet and left the alley to look for Sonic once more. though suddenly, she felt herself jump with a tiny scream as something landed on her shoulder. While quickly pulling out the Piko Piko Hammer, she cried, "Stay back!"

Whoever approached the pink hedgehog dodged her attack and let their cover show as their blood-red eyes seemed to glow in the dark.

"Shadow?" Amy put her guard down and watched Shadow step up to her. "What're you doing here?"

"To come and find you."

Amy pondered on this answer for a few moments. "Well, that's very sweet of you, but I'm doing fine on my own. I came to this city to look for Sonic and bring him back to Azabu."

"From what I can tell, you don't know where to look for him."

Amy became startled by Shadow's response as he'd pointed out the obvious truth. "W-well I barely got here. Just before you showed up, I was going to look inside more resturants."

"It's getting pretty late, and Cream and her mother are worried about you. So it would be best if you took a break from this search and came back home."

"What? But what about Sonic?"

"Sonic will be fine. We'll see him in the morning." Shadow put out his hand for Amy to take once he got his point across. "So let's go."

Amy looked at how her friend urged her to go with him, her heart fighting as if it were in a battle. Though eventually, because of Vanilla and Cream's consents for Shadow to come find her, she gave in.

Shadow took Amy's hand then knelt down so she could climb onto his back. Once she took hold of his shoulders, he sped out of the alley until they reached the Shiba Koen District to begin a discussion with her. "Amy."

"Hm?" Amy looked down at Shadow with her angelic green eyes.

"About yesterday, when we were in Tails's workshop and you had that look on your face."

"Oh, that..." Amy's expression became sad when she thought to that situation, but suddenly recolored her face with an optimistic grin. "That was nothing important! I was just a little tired after being at the park for so long, that's all."

"It looked like more than that to me. What did Sonic do to you?"

Strangely enough, Amy liked this sense of feeling cared for and important. But then she realized how Shadow's words sounded when they came out so she got offended. "Sonic didn't do anything to me. What gives you the idea that he did?"

"Well I wouldn't accuse any of the others of mistreating you."

"Sonic isn't mistreating me! ... I was the one who did something to him." Amy found herself telling Shadow the events of yesterday at the park and her idea of hiding Sonic's communicator.

"So it was because of you that Sonic didn't realize the Sailor Scouts were under attack."

"Yes."

Just as Shadow sped past another sidewalk, he happened to go by Julian who didn't see him but felt the gust of wind he left behind.

After recovering from this, Julian's eyes followed the hedgehog but he could only see a red streak.

* * *

_**-Serena's House-**_

The World's Fastest Hedgehog let out a relaxed sigh as he came back home and chose to lay back on the Tsukino's roof and look up at the moon. Now that he'd met Sailor Moon and heard of her life from the Silver Millenium, he'd been told a lot more about this planet. Instead of being just the big white rock that showed up at night time, it was where Serena and her mother, Queen Serenity, ruled in the ancient land known as the Moon Kingdom. From what Artemis had explained about it, the Moon Kingdom was a wonderful place.

"Over ten-thousand years ago, Serena was Princess Serenity until her palace was destroyed by Queen Beryl and her mother sent her and the others here to start their lives over. I wonder why I didn't meet them back then."

From out of nowhere, as if by fate's decision, Sonic noticed someone's shadow standing over him, so he looked up and came face-to-face with the person he least expected to see on this delightful night.

"Well, look who it is! Shadow, what're you doing here?" Sonic got up to his feet.

**Song Insert: Sonic Heroes "Special Stage" [Extended] **

"I haven't come to socialize with you, Sonic. I come asking you to make sure that this city stays protected."

"Sure, okay." Sonic couldn't help but grow concerned. "That's what I'll always do."

With nothing else to say, Shadow turned his heel and prepared to perform Chaos Control.

"Hey, wait up!" Sonic's call hadn't been heard, so he grabbed onto Shadow as the Ultimate Life Form revealed a Chaos Emerald and teleported instantly.

* * *

_**-Special Zone-**_

The one place that Sonic didn't think he would be visiting again. Special Zone still held a mystical air to it as he ran through its circular tube and with its bluish background.

Sonic opened his eyes and felt his feet already moving. Then he realized where he was and spotted Shadow a little ways ahead of him. "Shadow!"

Shadow grunted in annoyance as he heard this hedgehog's cool voice. He wasn't supposed to be here to begin with, but he'd grabbed his arm and was able to transport with him. Why was he always this stubborn?

Sonic picked up a smidge of speed to be by Shadow's side, but the dark hedgehog ran even faster. He wouldn't let Sonic be near him, let alone talk to him.

"What's the deal, Shadow?"

"You shouldn't have come here," Shadow said in the coldest tone he could.

Sonic took offense to this by show of the frown on his face. "Why? Back home, you were acting strange, so I wanna see what you're hiding."

"I don't have time for this." Shadow closed his lips and focused on running until he reached the end of this zone. Lurking on the other side would be something that Shadow intended to see only on his own. But his arch-rival was trying to join this expedition. "Sonic, leave now!"

"No way!"

Shadow growled and clenched his teeth. One way or another, he would make Sonic disappear. He spun around to run backwards so he could face the Blue Blur, then he formed a sphere of black energy. "CHAOS RIFT!"

Even though Sonic dodged this attack, it landed behind him and opened a rift in space and time, keeping him from following Shadow as it was trying to pull him in.

...

...

The hedgehog sighed as the rift eventually closed and disappeared from existence. If he hadn't acted any faster than he used all of his might to, he would've been gone.

Shadow, believing that his attack did the trick, turned back forward to continue on with getting through this stage.

"Nice try!"

"What?" Shadow looked to his left and found the same annoyance to still be here. "Hmph. So I guess you've managed to stay free of my Chaos Rift. Well it won't stop there!"

Sonic got into his battle stance as he watched Shadow summon a couple of Chaos Spears and send them at him. Each one was thrown with precise swiftness, but they barely touched the blue hedgehog's skin.

"Heh heh! You really think I'm gonna back down that easily?"

Shadow felt his face heat up with anger as its redness appeared on his muzzle. It was one thing for Sonic to not heed his words and go back to Crossroads City, but now he was boasting, showing that he thought he was worthy of challenging him. Dealing with anyone who thought they could challenge him was one of the things that Shadow disliked the most.

"You've left me with no choice, Faker!" With no more time to lose, Shadow twirled in a circle and used Chaos Control to disappear.

Sonic put his guard up as now he didn't know where Shadow could've went off to. As he was still moving his feet, he glanced at the road ahead of him and wondered where it led to.

Shadow reappeared from a distorted area of space and made a white and purple bubble to reside in, then he immediately rushed for Sonic and rammed into him.

Sonic yelped as he was given this close to fatal damage and was sent back to the Special Zone's entrance.

"Hm." Shadow formed a tiny smile of victory and put his attention back on the path ahead.

**-Song Insert Ends-**

Having ran through more than half of Special Zone, Shadow finally reached the end and could go into the portal that laid on the other side...


	31. Chapter 31

_**-Crystal City-**_

When Shadow came from out of the portal and landed on a grassy hill, he gazed from it at a civilization's land that was made entirely of crystal. If any of the Sailor Scouts spotted it, they would think it was Crystal Tokyo. How incorrect they would be.

The structure and people of Crystal City would remind anyone of an era where everything was classy and sophisticated. Men wore fine tuxedos, while women slipped on slender gowns, their means of transportations was horses carrying them around in carriages, and sometimes for entertainment, the rulers over their city would hold royal balls.

Shadow made his way through this place until he reached the Crystal City Castle and noticed its guards standing in front of the door.

Up above, on the castle's balcony crafted of the same crystal, a odango-haired woman looked down at her glorious city. It was all so beautiful, with its citizens going about their day, without any cares at all... this was how life should always be.

"Cosmos."

With daintiness, the woman turned around to this soft yet deep voice and found it to be her one and only friend.

"Nazo." She watched this hedgehog approach her and give a warm smile. While the woman looked down at this friend, she could only realize how they had both grown and where they both stood now.

Over time, the woman had become ruler of Crystal City and gained an appearance that made her closely resemble Neo-Queen Serenity, except her hair was silver. As for Nazo, he had become a glowing hedgehog with bluish-gray fur, familiar green eyes and spikes that branched upward from the sides of his back.

After sharing a touching stare with each other for a few passing seconds, Cosmos was led back inside the castle and down a crystal hallway.

"I just came back from Sweet Mountain like you asked me to and I brought you this."

Cosmos looked as Nazo put his hand out and revealed a soft-served vanilla ice cream cone. "Thank you!" Happily, the silver-haired woman accepted this treat and didn't waste any time in eating it.

While his partner was busy enjoying her desert, Nazo stepped over to one of the windows and looked out of them. He loved spectating Crystal City just as much as Cosmos did.

"Nazo."

"Yes?" Nazo turned at the sound of this gentle voice.

Before making her statement, Cosmos ate the last of her ice cream. "You have probably heard me say this once before, but... I'm so glad that you stayed."

"Of course I'd stay." Slowly, Nazo walked up to Cosmos and took her hand into both of his. "When I first saw you fight, I told myself I would fight by your side someday. So here I am, still after all these years."

Cosmos could feel her eyes beginning to water; for it made her so happy to hear her partner express his words like this. After everything that had indeed happened, the glowing hedgehog never left her side.

Just before Cosmos was able to lay her other hand on top of Nazo's, the hallway's door was opened and a black hedgehog made his way inside. So quickly, she and Nazo put their hands back to their sides.

"Hey, Shadow." Nazo walked up to his longtime-friend, "It's been a while."

"It has." Shadow shifted his glance from Nazo to Cosmos, "But there isn't time for small talk. I've come to ask if the two of you could lend me your strength for a situation that's taking place."

"What is it?" Cosmos asked Shadow.

"... I need the both of you to help me, and the rest of our friends take down Sailor Galaxia and the Shadow Galactica."

At the sound of this reply, Nazo's eyes widened and Cosmos fainted.

* * *

_**-Serena's House-**_

A mysterious portal appeared inside Serena's room and spit Sonic out of it. Serena gasped as she witnessed this and hurried to his side once the portal disappeared.

Sonic remembered following Shadow through the Special Zone and being hit by that strange sphere. But it'd knocked him back to the entrance and sent him here.

"Sonic!"

Slowly, the hedgehog woke up from unconsciousness and opened his eyes to see Serena's blue eyes intently focused on his.

* * *

_**-Crystal City-**_

"Cosmos!" Nazo held Cosmos in his arms while sitting on the ground, until finally, she woke up and found his eyes aimed at hers.

"Nazo..." Cosmos rose up to sit with the hedgehog but turned her eyes everywhere to look for something. "Where is Shadow?"

"I asked him to leave." Nazo could feel his eyes start to water, but he forced it to stop. "I wish we could've defeated Chaos another way... but we can't live in the past anymore... Amy and the others wouldn't want that."

Cosmos couldn't do anything about the tears that started flowing from her eyes. The past that Nazo mentioned was just too much for her to keep looking back on. Out of hurt and heartbreaking misery, Cosmos balled up her fists and beat them against the floor.

* * *

_**-Special Stage-**_

Having reminded Crystal City's rulers of their awful memories, Shadow left and re-entered Special Stage. He hadn't meant to uproot any sorrow or pain, but should've remembered what Nazo and Cosmos went through. They'd shared the events of Tokyo's future with him when he accidentally came upon their dimension one day and learned who they actually were. So now, it seemed as if the Ultimate Life Form would have to return home and see how his friends were faring.

* * *

_**-Tails's House-**_

Tails woke up and yawned while stretching his arms foward. He'd barely gotten any sleep last night as he was up worried about his best pal's whereabouts. It was abnormal for him to run off, especially without telling anybody.

In a hopes of seeing Sonic return home, Tails decided to get up, make himself some breakfast, and go to Serena's house to see if the blue hedgehog had made it back yet. Though, from out of nowhere, he heard his communicator on his wrist begin to beep.

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Sometime before the afternoon, Sonic Moon met up in front of Rei's home as Sonic had contacted all of them and asked if they could meet him here so he could properly apologize for running off yesterday, and besides that, he felt that it was time for them to hold another meeting.

Everyone was relieved to see him back safe and sound, somewhat upset at him for leaving unknowingly though. Amy gave him a slap across the face as she was worried for this hedgehog's well-being the most.

"You ran off without saying anything! You can't just do that." After having let her hand fall back to her side, Amy felt horrible for hitting Sonic and gave an apology, saying she didn't mean it. But he assured her that he understood and forgave her.

"Well, now that you're back, Sonic, what did you suggest Sonic Moon holds a meeting about?" asked Ami.

"Well, there were a few things that I thought needed to be brought up. Like first off, why haven't any of us seen Trista?"

"I've been wondering that myself," answered Rei, "But you know she is the Keeper of the Space-Time Door, so now was probably another time for her to go and guard its post. I'm sure she'll be be back again soon."

"That's it."

All eyes fell on Michelle when she gave these words.

"What is it, Michelle?" Amara questioned her partner.

"Trista going back to guard the Space-Time Door... around the same time that Eggman was in that explosion on board the Egg Carrier. I'm sure you all can see the connection between these two."

...

...

"She is right," Omega made Michelle's realization clear as day, "Trista has some kind of connection to Eggman. I suggest we look into the matter."

"Omega, I really believe that this is something that should be further looked into, but as of right now, we still have the matter of Galaxia and Shadow Galactica to worry about. Apparently, Rini left for Crystal Tokyo to go and train with her new Sailor Team, so we're still waiting for her to come back," Rei explained with a brief tone.

"Hey, guys? The next thing I wanted to talk about is that person Knuckles and Rouge saw at the academy."

"Eggman you mean?" Rouge tried clarifying Sonic's statement.

"No. It's not Eggman."

Everyone tilted their heads at this response and wondered why Sonic felt this way.

"Sonic, I don't know if I can believe that." Knuckles gave his honest opinion, "Me and Rouge both saw him with our own eyes. Everything about him except his weight says he's the same Eggman we've been fighting since day one."

"Sonic, unless you have valid evidence that this guy isn't Eggman, then you can't really prove him innocent," Tails said without trying to hurt Sonic's feelings.

"Well..." Sonic formed an uneasy facial expression, "He doesn't act the same as Egg Head. He didn't know who Eggman was when I kept calling him by that name and he seemed really kind. Maybe I don't have enough evidence, but it wasn't just how he acted... I could see it in his eyes."

Knuckles breathed out a sigh. "That's not enough, Sonic."

Mostly everyone felt as cautious about Julian really pretending to be Eggman, except for Serena who after seeing the saddening, misunderstood look on Sonic's face, made a determined frown and went over to him. "I believe you."

Obviously, those like Tails, Vanilla, Cream, and Amy believed Sonic too, but Serena took the next step.

Sonic lifted his head up and looked at this blonde-haired girl. Out of everyone, she came and stood by his side to get her point across. She believed and trusted him that someone else besides his old arch-nemesis was seen at Mugen Academy.

With pretty much nothing else to say, Sonic bid everyone farewell and told them he would be back with the individual who until they saw them was believed to be Eggman, a black sihoulette with fox ears sneaking their way after him.

* * *

_**-Tokyo Tower-**_

Precisely on schedule, Julian arrived at his destination a little before 12 PM before his new supersonic friend arrived. Since he was asked to meet his friends, strangers who he didn't know, the professor decided to dress in formal attire, which consisted of his red shirt, yellow cape, and black pants.

He finally saw Sonic make his entrance and walk up to him asking if he was ready to go to the Azabu District. Julian said yes and so they left.

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Sonic slowed down his pace to walk up the Hikawa Shrine steps with Julian. Julian seemed curious and excited about seeing what this shrine and its people were about since Sonic told him so much about them.

"Here it is!" With a wide smile on his face, Sonic welcomed Julian to Hikawa Shrine grounds, only to see no one else was present. The hedgehog blinked in confusion and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "Uh... where is everyone?"

Julian grew worried and said to Sonic, "Your friends did know that you were bringing me here, correct?"

"Yeah, I only left to come get you like five minutes ago! They should still be here." Sonic asked Julian to wait outside while he searched through the Hino household for signs of anyone. But unfortunately, not a single soul was present. "Hmm..."

Maybe Sonic hadn't been dreaming, but he did begin to feel a strange vibe in the atmosphere. Something was unusual, too different from what he was used to. The blue hero started feeling less of a reason to be happy. What drove and pushed him to take on the greater things in life was gradually slipping away from him. His friends... no, his family was missing.

"Sonic... I hope your friends are alright. Call me the bearer of bad news, but what if something has happened to them?"

"No..." Sonic clenched his fists. He wouldn't believe it. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

"You're mustached friend is right, hedgehog."

Both Sonic and Julian turned and discovered this statement to have came from a woman. She resembled the Sailor Scouts with her uniform, except it contained gloves, chest tuft, and shoulderpads made of actual white wolf's fur, and a peculiar headband across her head that looked to be made of a metal alloy called Pewter. Besides her outfit, this character carried silver neck-length hair and the most seductive of all seductive golden eyes.

Julian almost gawked at this anonymous woman's appearance as he couldn't begin to describe her beauty. Sonic, on the other hand, became suspiscious of her.

"And who're you supposed to be?" Sonic asked with a stern tone.

"Can't you tell? I'm a Sailor Scout. Just look at my uniform."

Sonic thoroughly looked this woman up and down before forming a response. "Nice try, lady. But I've seen baddies who dressed up like the real thing and they turn out to work for Shadow Galactica. So you can't fool me."

"You might not approve of what I'm wearing, but from what I can tell, I'm the only one who's been here waiting for you." The Sailor Scout took in her surroundings. "Where do you think all of your other friends went? You told them you would be back, so why desert you?"

"They didn't desert me."

While Sonic had his eyes on the ground and wasn't paying attention, the lady snapped her finger and suddenly the world around them changed.

"Sonic!" This would've been the name that Julian cried out, but his voice was taken from him and soon he was transported away from Sonic's presence.

"Julian?" Sonic was certain that he heard the scientist cry out his name. "Julian?" He looked every which way but did not see any bald head or orange mustaches. Now Julian was gone and he was all alone. "Who's doing this?" The hedgehog turned his attention back to the Sailor Scout and saw a concerned look on her face.

"Impossible! Your friend was just here a second ago. This is all so strange..."

At first, Sonic looked as though he were about to unleash a furious rage, but he kept everything in and stood fixed with grim determination. "You're behind this!"

"What?" The Sailor Scout reacted with shock, putting her hands to her voluptuous chest, "You think I'm the cause of all of this? I'm not the crook! Why don't you believe me?"

"Because..." In a strange manner, a newfound grin shown on Sonic's lips. "You don't believe me."

The Sailor Scout, or rather the Sailor Animamate behind this illusion she'd placed Sonic in gasped as she wasn't expecting him to react like this.

"Me. Who I am, what I do, what I say. I don't give in or compromise. I don't follow anyone's rules except my own. You don't believe I can put a fight."

Sonic's captor was speechless at what he was saying.

"All the people who do believe in me placed their bets on the one who they thought was right. That person's me."

Seeing that her charade wasn't going to work anymore, the Sailor Animamate became angry and started gritting her teeth. How had this hedgehog found a breakthrough? Just who was he?

"Tails... Serena... Amy... they're the ones who believe in me. They might not be here in this illusion you've made, but when I wake up they'll all still be waiting for me. So here I go!" With all of his agility and strength, Sonic curled into a ball and revved up for speed, then took off to the skies, when in reality he was actually busting through the roof of an abandoned warehouse.

Once the spell placed on him was broken, he could see himself in reality again and the person responsible for tricking him revealed themselves a few feet in front of him.

"Despicable hedgehog!" The Sailor Animamate stared at Sonic with so much anger blazing in her eyes. She'd almost been able to break Sonic down to the point where his heart could tear into two and she could use all of those negative emotions against him, but he fall for it.

"Heh heh. You'd have to be niave to think you could pull a trick like that on me," Sonic spat arrogantly, "It's always the same with you baddies who use your mind tricks."

"Silence!" The Sailor Animamate flicked her wrist and sent a wave of black energy Sonic's way. Though to her misfortune she missed, and he rushed foward and downkicked her in the stomach, which sent her farther away from him.

Sonic appeared some distance in front his new foe and folded his arms. "Well, I'd say we're getting off to a pretty good start. Why don't you tell me who you are and why you came for me?"

As if in a hurry, the Sailor Animamate hopped to her feet and leapt away from Sonic to vanish. "Sorry, hedgehog, but that's something you'll have to take up with my master." And just like that, she disappeared.

Sonic cursed himself for not catching this soldier and not getting the answers he wanted, but he calmed down and shook it off. "No worries. I'll see her or one of Galaxia's other servants sooner or later." After the next passing moment, Sonic's eyes landed on a familiar tower off in the distance, and that's when he remembered... "Julian!"

* * *

_**-Tokyo Tower-**_

Having arrived around the time he suggested, Julian stood underneath Tokyo Tower dressed in what he considered to be formal attire. This consisted of his red shirt, yellow cape, and black pants that he originally wore.

Ten minutes after the clock struck twelve, he saw Sonic appear and begin to tell him how glad he was to have still made it on time.

"Hello, Sonic. I would say you made it here just in time."

"Yeah? Well hey, let's just get a move on so you can meet my other friends. I don't wanna get into what I had to go through on the way here."

"Oh, well alright," Julian formed a bit of a concerned frown, "If you say so, Sonic."

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

As to be expected, Omega and some of the others didn't trust Julian when he was welcomed to Hikawa Shrine and the nice man was frightened when Omega aimed his retractable claws at him. Amy had had to come in between the two and fuss at Omega about being so rude, so with how small Rei's room was and how many members were in Sonic Moon, they decided to pick only a few of its people to sit in Rei's room and see what Doctor Julian Kintobor was about. While he sat at one end of her table, Rei sat at the other, with Sonic, Rouge, Knuckles, and Luna behind her.

To be respectful, Rei made some black ginseng tea and offered Julian some, watching him gently sip on it once it was cool enough for him to drink. Then they moved on to what was important and started interrogating him.

In the end, they recieved answers that were related to the ones Sonic heard last night on Rainbow Bridge. They kindly asked Julian to step outside so they could speak with one another in private. Everyone then turned their eyes to Sonic and Luna was the first to part her lips.

"We've met this man and asked him everything we needed to know. I hate to disappoint you, Sonic, but I still sense that same essence that was in Eggman living inside Julian."

"... it's fine." Sonic managed a weak smile. "So I guess there's only one more thing to do."

Everyone became startled as Sonic rose to his feet and began to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" Knuckles queried the hedgehog.

Sonic slid Rei's door open and walked directly up to Michelle who was standing near Amara and Team Chaotix under one of the many cherry trees. "Michelle, there's something I need you to help me with."

"Sure, Sonic. What is it?"

"I'm gonna need to borrow your mirror."


	32. Chapter 32

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

"My mirror? What exactly would you need it for?"

"To see the truth behind Julian."

Conversations that had been going on outside Rei's house came to heavy silence as Sonic mentioned why he needed the Deep Aqua Mirror. His friends couldn't help but react shocked by it. Whatever he was trying to do was risky.

"I am able to give you my mirror. But once you point it at your friend, and you see what truths really lay inside his soul, you would have to put your feelings aside and accept it."

"Yeah." Sonic nodded as he was more than ready to try using the Deep Aqua Mirror.

As Amara stared at him, she couldn't help but wonder how much he started reminding her of Sailor Moon. If that Champion of Love and Justice were in this situation, she probably would've wanted to use the mirror and see Julian for what he really was too. She and Sonic were just both persistent in that way.

"I'll let you use my mirror." From subspace where it usually came, Michelle summoned her planet's most precious treasure and handed it to Sonic.

After some time, Sonic Moon cautiously stood behind Sonic as he'd asked Julian to stand a few feet in front of him while he held up Michelle's mirror.

"Sonic... I don't understand. Why are you pointing that mirror at me?"

"Just trust me, Julian... I'm going somewhere with this." Rather than have to cry out a spell like Sailor Neptune did when she held this mirror, Sonic waited for a white light to glow around it and shoot towards Julian.

Julian gasped as this threatening beam came his way. Why was Sonic doing this? They were supposed to be friends! With not much of a choice, Julian turned away and covered his eyes... to feel the beam not hurt him. He looked down at Sonic with confusion then felt himself start levitating from off the ground.

Sonic Moon gasped as they watched Julian hover in the air while covered in a soft white glow. The Deep Aqua Mirror was never known for revealing anyone's truth like this, and so hearts filled with wonder and curiosity.

"Why's Eggman covered in that light?" asked Charmy.

"Be quiet and just watch," Vector replied with a surprisingly calm tone.

No one was sure what to expect next. They waited until a new being started to appear beside Julian, but were totally taken aback by who it turned out to be.

"What? Who is that?" Decoe pointed at the figure.

"It appears to be another Dr. Eggman!" Bocoe cried with fear, "But he looks different!"

Cream, Cheese, Omochao and even Bokkun clutched onto the ends of Vanilla's dress as they were also frightened by this new guest. And so like any good mother would, Vanilla knelt down and pulled them close where they would be safe in her arms.

With Amy and Tails safe behind Sonic, he put the Deep Aqua Mirror down and sensed Serena appear beside him.

Julian realized what everyone was getting worked up about and almost screamed when he looked to his right and saw it too. An alternate version of the obese Eggman who's hair had aged into a disgraceful grayish-white, had a darker, more sinister demeanor about himself, and who's clothes were Eggman's with reversed colors.

Even Shadow had to admit that this was unlike any truth he imagined Michelle's mirror to show. "Doctor!"

Soon, the light that enveloped Julian and this new Eggman disappeared, allowing their feet to return to the ground. Sonic Moon took a step back as the new Eggman snickered and sent a menacing grin at them. When he shot a glance at Julian, his face scrunched with disgust, scaring the poor man.

"It was about time that I be separated from you." The new Eggman turned his sights back to the congregation in front of him and greeted them with an incredibly toothed grin. "All of you are wondering why I appeared when you used that magic mirror. What you see standing before you are the two halves that make up the individual you share a past history with, Doctor Eggman."

A series of gasps filled the air and no one could move their lips to speak. The two halves that made up Eggman?

"As you can see, I am the evil counterpart, the ingenious Dr. Eggman Nega, future ruler of Eggmanland. As for the pathetic excuse for a scientist you see beside me, he is Dr. Ovi Julian Kintobor, the lighter, much weaker counterpart."

Instantly, an anger inside Knuckles was lit up. He started shaking his fists at Eggman Nega. "I don't believe any of this! You're telling me that you and Julian fuse into the bad guy we've been fighting all these years? Gimme a break!"

"Eggman or not it doesn't matter to me! I will have my revenge and prove that I am the Ultimate E-Series Robot!" Omega raised his arms to lock and aim onto Eggman Nega.

Julian, personally, was appalled by all of this. He had never known himself to be linked to a counterpart that made up his alternate self. It just didn't make any sense. He ended up running back over to Sonic's side and also standing behind the angered hedgehog for protection reasons.

At this same moment, a random series of dark laughter came from Eggman Nega's mouth. With it, he almost made even the hairs on Shadow's back jump. As it came to an end, he looked at Omega and made a smirk. "Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have laughed. It's just that... you're so cruel. You taunt me by not using my full title."

Lita gritted her teeth and started reaching for the Chaos Emerald in her satchel.

Eggman Nega was in no way surprised by the feedback he was receiving. So he made himself clear. "I couldn't care less what happens to this world, but getting rid of you pests is something that I'll definitely make sure to do!"

"Enough of this!" Omega's claws changed into high-energy plasma cannons. "Step aside!"

Omega's comrades heard what he said but were given no choice but to move out of the way as he sent the plasma cannon's pink energy at Eggman Nega. Even with his large stature, Eggman Nega avoided the blast and looked as it destroyed the side of Rei's house.

"Omega!" Rei hurried to the ruined home to find Chad and her grandpa to make sure they were unharmed and take them both to a safer location.

Michelle always said that the Deep Aqua Mirror didn't lie, but just once... maybe only this time... she wished that it revealed different truth.

"Eggman, you will pay!" Omega rushed towards his creator and threw a fist at him, only for the old geezer to block it and cause them to both start pushing against each other like men fighting to the death. To everyone's surprise, Eggman Nega came out as the victor and threw Omega aside to the ground.

"You useless piece of scrap metal! I should've thrown you into the junkyard years ago." Eggman Nega turned and noticed the Lita and the other human girls. "Now, now, you ladies shouldn't dirty your delicate hands by picking a fight with me. These kinds of things should be left in the hands of men."

By now, Lita's face was a flabbergasted red.

"If being sealed in the Space-Time Door has taught me anything, it's showed me why Sonic has defeated me countless times. I put all of my time, effort, sweat, blood, even tears, into the robots and machines I would build for each scheme. But no more!"

Everyone gasped as they watched Eggman Nega raise a fist and make it glow with green Chaos Energy. "Now I will be the one who does the dirty work! Muhahahaha!"

"Oh yeah?" Having transformed along with her other friends, Hyper Jupiter unleashed Jupiter Supreme Thunder, except this time it was enhanced as an electrifying dragon was summoned. "JUPITER, SUPREME, THUNDER!" The Dragon created from Jupiter's green thunder roared violently and charged towards Eggman Nega.

With that same creepy grin on his face, Eggman Nega raised his fist and impeded the Dragon from touching him, creating an epic collision that sent sparks of electricity and Chaos Energy flying everywhere. Hyper Jupiter's comrades fled from the scene as this was taking place.

She stood there watching the monster from her attack try to break through its target fist and give him damage. Anyone watching this from their television set would be on the edge of their seat as it was so climatic and who the question of the winner remained the biggest mystery.

Eggman Nega accessed more power to send against the determined Jupiter's attack, but the Dragon wasn't going to quit. When both dark and good were persistent to gaining victory, the collision of their attacks caused an explosion.

"Amy!" Sonic zipped over to the pink hedgehog and protected her from this.

He, Amy, and the rest of Sonic Moon had to cover their eyes as the outcome of this battle had brought about a blinding light. When the light disappeared and both hedgehogs were able to uncover their eyes, they noticed Hyper Jupiter and Eggman Nega still facing each other.

"Hmm. Not bad at all, my dear. But you still have a lot of things to work on." Eggman Nega snickered and suddenly noticed his longtime arch-nemesis stand in front of Hyper Jupiter. "Well, if it isn't my arch-nemesis, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"Can it, Eggman!"

Eggman Nega honestly was a bit surprised by Sonic's new anger, but the doctor laughed about it then walked up to the hedgehog and grinned down at him with his arms crossed, Sonic and Hyper Jupiter taking a step back as he did this. "Well this is a change in events. Usually you're sassy and arrogant when you face me. What's got you so worked up now, Sonic? This is still like old times."

"Not even," Sonic retorted with a blunt tone, "This'll never be like those other times I fought you. Now this'll be where things end."

"Is that so? Well I trust you know I'm not like the Dr. Eggman you've faced before. He never learned from his mistakes and so finally when it drove him insane, it became easier for me to take control of his mind. But then that niave Time Guardian figured it would be best if Eggman's counterparts be seperated, so once I was released, she couldn't keep me trapped in the Space-Time Door."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Hyper Jupiter.

"What I'm saying is, my dear..." Eggman Nega made a dark toothed grin, "When Sonic used that mirror on my counterpart, I was transported from the Space-Time Door and brought here. So now I'm free! Muhahahahahahahahahaha!"

"No..!" Hyper Sailor Moon said with denial, looking over at the now troubled Sonic.

Eggman Nega's laughs continued even as Sonic's head was bent and all he could do was look down. He didn't want to accept the truth but it had been his decision to reveal Dr. Ovi Julian Kintobor. Unfortunately, that'd seem to mean bringing the other half of his truth from where they were being imprisoned.

"Thank you, Sonic, for freeing me." Eggman Nega crouched down so he could be eye level with the blue hero, "It's only proper that I thank you." Eggman's dark counterpart looked at Sonic until the hedgehog finally got up with darker green eyes and swung at him. "Ah, there's that tweaked personality again!" Eggman Nega dodged Sonic's fist.

"Sonic!" Hyper Jupiter cried as she noticed his eyes.

Eggman Nega laughed once more. "Don't tell me I'm bringing the dark side out of you too, Sonic!"

"Is that what you think?" Sonic grinned and revealed toothed fangs, "I'm not sure if that's the case here!"

Tails and Amy grew afraid at the Sonic they were seeing. Now he was Dark Sonic, a hedgehog with bluish-black fur and eyes that could tell anyone the caring and pure-hearted Sonic was gone.

"Why is Sonic acting like this?" Hyper Venus asked Tails.

"That isn't Sonic... his dark side has taken over. He's accidentally channeled the Chaos Emeralds' negative energy, and his emotions are intensified by that, so now he's become even more driven by his anger."

"Sonic..." Julian did not want to believe what he was looking at. He remembered Sonic as being kind and friendly. Not this dark and villainous character standing before them now.

Eggman Nega was glad to have pushed Sonic to this state. "Say what you will! In the end, you will be destroyed by... Doctor Eggman Nega!"

When he could've responded to this evil declaration, Dark Sonic... just laughed. He let out a series of mad cackles that no one ever would've guessed the genuinely good hedgehog could show. Cream turned around and buried her face into her mother's dress. This little angel hadn't wanted to believe what she was hearing as it reminded her of her awful nightmares.

This surprised even Eggman Nega, who now instead of standing tall and proud, was puzzled and becoming slightly irritated. "What's so funny?"

To everyone's consent, Dark Sonic calmed down and answered Eggman Nega's question by trying to sound exactly like him. "Oh, my bad. I shouldn't have laughed. It's just... you're so gullible. I haven't been beating you because I knew how to break all your toys. It's cus' you're just that slow!"

Eggman Nega became red in the face and started clenching his fists. He wouldn't stand here and be humiliated like this. Eggman Nega was far too intelligent to be made a mockery of! "That does it! No one makes a fool of me and gets away with it!"

When anyone least expected it, Eggman Nega raised his hands to form some Chaos Energy. Though before the mastermind had a chance to gather enough, a red arrow was shot at his arm and canceled it.

"Who did that?" Eggman Nega looked behind him and noticed a Sailor Scout aiming another arrow at him.

"Mars!" Hyper Sailor Moon and the rest of the gang were surprised at her arrival, but her appearance was a different situation. The warrior's hair was beautiful with its mystical, silvery color. Hyper Mars's eyes were red like her allies', except it would remind one of the same passionate, burning red that her planet was. The Princess of Mars was a Sailor Soldier who could finally be like her team mates since Rini let her have her Chaos Emerald before she left for the 30th Century.

Regardless of the state he was in, Dark Sonic could sense something different about this girl. He watched her run, jump, and front-flip to land in front of her Sailor Team, then notice her say some things to Hyper Sailor Moon about how now she could finally fight by their side.

"You could always help us fight, Mars," Hyper Sailor Moon managed a sweet smile to show her best friend, "And that's why we're all here now." The Sailor Scouts' leader turned to face Eggman Nega, though noticed Dark Sonic lunge towards him all of a sudden.

"Hope you're ready, Eggman!" Dark Sonic ran at such a high speed that Eggman Nega couldn't block his Spin Dashes and so he took on full damage. He was sent flying left and right, up and down, until finally he fought back and started trying to blast Dark Sonic with his own attack.

"Why is Sonic acting different?" said Hyper Mars, soon getting the answer to her question.

By now, Eggman Nega landed on the ground and was on his back, bruised, beaten, injured to such a point that he was left with no choice but to... end the battle here and retreat. "I will deal with you later!"

Just as Dark Sonic leapt in the air, preparing to come down with a swift kick, Eggman Nega performed Chaos Control and was out of the area, causing his foe to form a crater in the concrete.

"He performed Chaos Control without using an emerald!" Shadow was stunned by the fact that Eggman Nega was able to teleport without a Chaos Emerald, but also by the size of Dark Sonic's crater.

* * *

_**-Outside Crossroads City-**_

Crows could be heard cawing as the day was drawing to a close. The sun came to its set with its gorgeous series of purples, oranges, golds, pinks, and reds.

Dark Sonic's friends had been shocked and frightened by his appearance, and so once Julian managed to calm the hedgehog down, he came out here to the outside of the city where he could be alone to think and collect his thoughts. He hadn't meant to make Cream and Cheese cry or give Julian the wrong impression. His anger and rage had just been triggered by the Chaos Emeralds' negative energy and so his dark transformation had came to be.

"There you are!" came this cheerful yet slightly older voice.

Dark Sonic looked down from the tree he was sitting in and noticed a familiar girl standing there... or was it just a female who reminded him of someone else? "Rini?" The bluish-black hedgehog leapt down from the tree and also noticed Diana standing beside the girl. "You guys are back from Crystal Tokyo already?"

"Yep! We had lots of fun getting a tour around Crystal Tokyo, but Rini's mother told her that she wanted her and her guardians to train, so we spent the last few days working on a new move and now we're back!" Diana piped happily.

Dark Sonic gave a light smile and looked over to Diana's guardian. She had her own angel wings and was in a uniform similar to the other Sailor Scouts' except the color scheme was an obvious pink and she bore a crescent moon on her forehead like her mother. Her pigtails reached past her waist and her body had developed a more womanly figure. If Dark Sonic wasn't mistaken, Rini looked to be about sixteen years old now like Serena.

"Tails told us about everything that's happened since I went back home." Rini looked away with a touch of sadness. "He also said you accidentally channeled bad Chaos Energy and turned into what you are now."

Dark Sonic realized that he'd worried Rini and Diana about his behavior too. He looked down and was too ashamed to put his eyes on Rini's again. "Yeah... about that... I really don't know what came over me. Sorry for worrying you guys. Huh?" Before Dark Sonic could realize it, he felt someone petting his head and looked up to see Rini's hand there.

She giggled and smiled as being petted was apparently random and usual to her hedgehog friend. Suddenly though, she noticed Sonic's fur changed back to its lighter blue shade, his teeth returned to normal, and his eyes regained that dazzling jade-green. "Sonic, you've turned back to normal!"

The refreshed Sonic zipped over to where he remembered a lake being at, studied his reflection in the clear water, then zoomed back to Rini with a wide smile. "You're right, Rini! Thanks for cheering me up."

"Your welcome, Sonic." Rini motioned Sonic and Diana to begin walking with her towards Crossroads City, as on the way there, the young adult had a few things she wanted to discuss. "So, you're probably wondering why I'm not ten years old anymore. Well, my real age is nine-hundred and ten thanks to so much exposure from my mother's crystal. But because it's been a long time since I went back home, her crystal sped up my age growth."

"Wow. Well isn't that something?" Sonic shifted his eyes to Diana. "That sounds like the same thing that happened to you, Diana."

"Well, almost. Rini, how are you going to explain to the others that you're older now?"

"The same way I just told Sonic. They'll have to understand."

"Eh..." Sonic started rubbing the back of his head, "Well I wouldn't put it past Serena's parents. Just the other day, her dad made me go with him to the mall and buy clothes so I can fit in."

"Grandpa can be like that sometimes. He just doesn't trust guys in general when they hang out with Serena so much. Unfortunately, that's why he isn't so interested in seeing her be with Darien."

Sonic shrugged his shoulders as there was nothing else to say. But then a new thought dawned on him. "Hey. What about your other friends, the Sailor Quartet? Why aren't they here with you?"

"They're inside this brooch I'm wearing." Rini stopped walking and knelt down for Sonic to see the heart-shaped brooch she was wearing that contained four different gems on it. Yellow. Blue. Red. And green.

"So they just sleep inside this but come out when you summon them?"

"Yeah."

As Rini and Diana had said they first wanted to say hi to everyone in Sonic Moon, they remember not seeing Trista anywhere. And that was when they learned she probably wouldn't come around for a long time. Someone had to watch over the Space-Time Door.

* * *

_**-Serena's House-**_

It was concluded that Rini went back home and therefore wasn't going to come back here again, so the Tsukino Family accepted that and were now at the dinner table, sitting down to Ikuko's meaty chili dogs.

"Mmmmmm! Ikuko, your chili dogs are chili-tastic!" Sonic told the mother.

"When you talk to my wife, you address her by Mrs. Tsukino," Kenji made a stern frown, "And the same goes for my name."

"Right. My bad." Instantly, Sonic's cheerful attitude went away and he loosened his necktie since Serena's father had put it on too tight.

Ready for bed, Serena stepped came in her room in her pajamas and noticed Sonic beginning to open her window. "Sonic?"

The hedgehog looked back at Serena like a deer seeing bright headlights. He'd been caught in the middle of his suspicious act and now he was busted. "Uhh... this isn't what it looks like."

"And Luna? You were gonna let Sonic leave without asking why?" Serena turned to her cat who was laying on her bed.

"This is between you and Sonic." Then just like that, Luna hopped down from Serena's bed and slipped through the crack of her door to go downstairs to the living room, where it would be quieter.

"I know you're free to go where ever you want, but I've never seen you sneak out without telling anyone. Just like the other day."

"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not sure if this is the right place for me. Don't get me wrong, your dad's a good person and all, but this hedgehog wasn't made to live by so many rules. I wanna be free to do what makes me happy. You get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Serena found herself smiling, "Well where will you go to bed every night? I mean, the wilderness is a big place."

"I manage," Sonic smiled confidently. "I still wanna say thanks for letting me crash here. But when I'm out there, I get to be me all the way." Sonic told Serena goodnight and went back to opening the window so he could leap down to the streets below. "See ya'!"

After everything that'd happened, everything in Sonic's life that led him up to this point... caused him to wanna let it out of his heart by singing. There were so many times where he could've thrown in the towel and gave up, but his ambitions and his loyal friends kept him going. If he wasn't around, then what other cool, blue hedgehog would his friends have? So he parted his lips when the first choice of song came to his head and went with it when his feet touched the ground.

"Woot! Oh yeah!" He took off and raced his way through Crossroads City's streets, with his heart beating so happily and his limits like the sky. "Rolling around at the speed of sound, got places to go... gotta follow my rainbow! Can't stick around, have to keep moving on... guess what lies ahead, only one way to find out!"

Up ahead, Sonic spotted an outdoor restaurant with a couple sitting at one of its tables. The guy looked like he didn't know how to impress his girlfriend, so Sonic comically brought out a bouquet of roses and dropped them in the guy's hand as he sped past them. At that point, the girl was happy and impressed now. The guy didn't know where the roses came from but who cared?

"Must keep on moving ahead... no time for guessing, follow my plan instead! Trusting in what you can't see... take my lead, I'll set you free!" By now, Sonic was just easing his way through, whether it be dodging cars in his way or hopping from tree to tree. "Follow me! Set me free! Trust me, and we will escape from the city! I'll make it through, prove it to you! Follow me! Oh yeah!"

Later on, on another street, Sonic watched some cops chase a robber. "Danger is lurking around every turn." So he intervened like the energetic little hedgehog he was and hopped on top of the robber's head to slow him down. "Trust your feelings, got to live and learn!" With a hand on his hip, he watched the robber be arrested and kept singing," I know with some luck that I'll make it through... got no other options, only one thing to do!" Then he took off again.

"I don't care what lies ahead!" In front of Sonic, a large moving truck was going in the same direction. So he improvised and jumped on top of it to stand there and let it drive him some of the way. "No time for guessing, follow my plan instead!"

Cars started honking at Sonic and people pointed fingers at him as they'd never seen anything like him. Who was this animal running through the city?

Who he had turned out to be though was someone who was very kind and generous, for mysteriously, he brought out a bunch of Rings and started throwing them out to all of this city's citizens for them to have. He'd gathered these after completing so many zones on his different adventures, but there was no reason for him to hold on to them anymore.

"Find the next stage no matter what that may be..." He tossed these rings everywhere.

Vehicles stopped and watched in amazement of this supernatural phenomenon, while others got out of their vehicles and hurried to grab these yellow things.

"... take my lead, I'll set you free! Follow me! Set me free! Trust me and we will escape from the city!"

Before getting off the truck and finally leaving Crossroads City to make his new home, Sonic noticed a little kid look up at him with a gaping mouth. That kid didn't know what to make of these Rings or Sonic. So, like the cool hedgehog he was, Sonic gave the kid a thumbs up and smiled. "I'll make it through, prove it to you! Follow me! Follow me!" And just like that, he took off.


	33. Chapter 33

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

**Song Insert: Sailor Moon "Moonlight Densetsu" [FULL] **

Birds could be heard chirping as Serena made her way up the shrine stairs. They always chirped happily and sweet like this, but not everyone would notice it. Serena was one who did.

This odango-haired girl was in a good mood herself, actually. The past few weeks had been full of dealing with bad guys and other shocking things, but there were still good things to be happy about. How the sky was blue. How the grass was green. How all of her friends were still alive and breathing. Her future-daughter had came back from her training and was officially a Sailor Scout now, not to mention she had became sixteen years old. Well, Serena hadn't pondered much on that last part. Anyhow, she was just in a cheerful mood and she acknowledged that today was a beautiful day.

She finally made her way up the stairs and looked around at everything. The shrine grounds were looking pretty clean like they usually did. The cherry trees were pretty even if they weren't bloomed yet.

"Hey!"

Serena heard this voice call her, and she looked up to see Rei in her usual priestess uniform. "Hi, Rei! What's up?"

"What're you doing up so early? Usually you sleep in and Rini has to be the one to wake you up."

"That's not necessarily true. Rini moved in with Amy to their apartment in Station Square."

"What?" Rei's eyes popped out of her head, "But they're not adults yet! How could Amy have her own apartment?"

"I dunno. It's this apartment she was able to get somehow when she and the other Sonic Heroes first found out about Station Square."

Rei couldn't believe this. "Well, they are growing up pretty fast... we should go see them sometime."

"Yeah, we should." Serena thought to Rini and wondered what the pink girl was doing. "So uh, I was wondering when we were going to have another meeting about your grandpa's festival."

"Today, actually. And you're the first one to show up so far." Rei turned on her communicator. "Right before you came, I was gonna call the others and see if they could come too." Rei looked back up and smiled. "So I guess while we wait for them, you could come inside and sit for a bit."

"And start reading one of your newest manga that you just ordered? Yeah, I'd like that!"

"No! I haven't taken those from out of their packages yet!"

While Serena raced the fastest she could into Rei's home to obtain her manga, Rei chased her with the hope of stopping her. In the end, Serena had been able to take out one of Rei's comics and turn to the first page, but Rei soon snatched it out of her hand and told her to keep her hands off it.

"Jeez, Rei! You don't have to be so bossy!"

Having been given an older manga issue, Serena sat down to read it while Rei took possession of her newest one and was already on page ten. About half an hour passed when the girls spent this time reading, until their friends appeared consecutively and they could finally start their meeting about the Autumn Festival.

"Im so excited about this festival!" piped Cream, with Cheese chirping in agreement.

"Yes, so am I," added Vanilla, "This will be the first festival that my children and I attend."

* * *

_**-Outside Crossroads City-**_

**Song Insert: Sonic Adventure DX "Final Egg (Section B)"**

"Here I go!" Rini placed her hand over her brooch and shouted her transformation cry. "ETERNAL, PINK CRYSTAL, POWER!"

As it was sunset outside, Rini allowed her new brooch to envelop her in its warm, pink energy and change her into the Eternal Sailor Soldier she now was. She made a pose that resembled her mother's with the index fingers and crossing her arms. And as she'd explained to Sonic, each of the Sailor Quartet stood behind her in battle stances. This was it.

"For love and justice, I am a pretty soldier in a sailor suit, Sailor Mini Moon! I shall punish all evil in the name of the Moon of the future!"

"The Sailor Quartet will fight alongside Sailor Mini Moon to make that come true!" declared Ceres.

Each of their spar opponents, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Shadow, and Espio, clapped as they felt these heroic phrases were good.

"Pretty good! You've got the hero part down, but let's see how much your training in Crystal Tokyo pays off." In a cluster with his anthropomorphic friends, Sonic revealed the Chaos Emeralds and together they each absorbed its positive energy and turned super.

As Espio could feel the Chaos Energy accepting him... changing his scaly skin to a deep red and his eyes to a dark blue, he had to admit that it overwhelmed him. He accepted Sonic's offer of helping spar against Mini Moon and her team, but didn't know about the addition of the Chaos Emeralds, and the fact that he was to also use them.

In the end, the chameleon did his best to stand with this new power flowing through his veins, and soon him and his friends were lunging towards their spar opponents with fists up.

Knuckles sent his fist at Jun but watched it miss and had to dodge her punches as she had him dodging left and right.

Vesta threw a roundhouse kick and was almost able to hit Espio. The chameleon leapt away from her and started throwing black ninja stars, watching Vesta hop to and fro to dodge each one.

Pallas felt that Tails was awfully cute, but now she was realizing that the small kid packed quite a punch too. She evaded his twin tails that he rapidly twirled them at her and watched out especially for the Fake Rings he tossed at her.

After throwing another Fake Ring, Tails curled into a ball to Spin Dash into his spar opponent, but unfortunately missed.

Shadow and Ceres were both consistent in the spar battle they were having. They moved so fast that it looked like black and yellow flashes that kept colliding against each other. Finally, they separated and stared at each other before making any moves, both impressed with the skills they showed.

"Is that all you've got?" After dodging Mini Moon's jab, Super Sonic jumped back and happened to see her call her team members to her side.

"Guys... let's show them the move we made up!"

After nodding in total agreement, the Sailor Quartet joined their leader and raised their hands to concentrate on combining all of their energies into one attack. "PINK... LADIES... FREEZING... KISS!"

Unlike the Asteroid Soldier's Amazoness Jungle Arrow, this arrow formed with Mini Moon was made of the coldest ice known to of their spar opponents watched it race towards Super Sonic and leave a glittery trail of ice dust behind it.

When Super Sonic evaded this pointy weapon and it touched the ground, it froze a large patch of it up them shattered it into frigid icicles. The glowing hedgehog didn't know whether to be impressed or overly amazed. "Beautiful!"

Mini Moon noticed Sonic wink and give her a thumbs up, so she smiled back. "Thanks, Sonic! And thank you all for sparring with us."

"It was no problem," Tails replied on all of his anthropomorphic friends's behalf.

Mini Moon looked back to Sonic and parted her lips. "Well, we should probably get going now."

"Yeah, I'd say the same for us," Sonic replied, "But we'll catch you all later."

"Yes," Ceres aimed a friendly smile at Sonic.

* * *

_**-Crossroads City Cafe-**_

By now, humans were used to seeing Sonic and his friends hang around in their public facilities. No one was still sure where they'd came from exactly, until the President received too many letters and he decided it was time to start talking.

"What you see are some of my good friends, Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog, and their comrades. They've came and stayed in Station Square and made it their home for the past few months are the reason that this country is still safe and in one piece, so please, treat them as you would any other citizen. They've earned their citizenship."

Humans inside the cafe still looked over at Shadow and Rouge with curious expressions. The President had said that they were allowed to live here, but for some citizens, it would take longer to get used to them, and that was just that.

"You know what, Shadow? I'm glad we found out Eggman's secret," Rouge spoke across the table, "At least now we know he did have some good in him."

"And some bad." Shadow lifted his coffee cup to his lips and took a slow sip. "Eggman Nega has learned how to harness and manipulate Chaos Energy. We can't take that lightly."

Rouge thought back to Eggman Nega from earlier and sighed. "Meanwhile, Omega is trying everything he can to make himself strong enough to fight him again. Shadow, I think you should have a talk with him. Ya' know, friend to friend."

"I have nothing to say to Omega. That drive that pushes him to defeating Eggman isn't something I can take from him."

"But it's gone too far! Rei's grandfather and boyfriend could've been injured today. There has to be some way for him to realize that he doesn't need to prove anything."

Shadow closed his eyes as his arms were already crossed. "Well I'm just as clueless as you are."

Some moments after this blunt statement, a pair of bells chimed as someone stepped in through the cafe's front entrance and caught everyone's attention. Their dwarfish appearance alone shocked and amazed everyone who noticed them.

"Little girl? Where are your parents?"

"It's too late for you to be outside. Where did you come from?"

Rouge couldn't help but gasp herself as she watched this toddler take a seat at one of the cafe's bar stools. If the treasure hunter wasn't mistaken, this girl reminded her a lot of Serena and Rini; she had magenta hair with heart-shaped odangos and little curls coming from each one. Unmistakably, her eyes belonged to Serena as they were also the same blue, and the uniform she wore looked very much like Rini's with its long sleeves and skirt.

Shadow also felt stunned when this toddler entered. For the strangest reason, she reminded him of someone he knew already.

At the table where this toddler sat, a male employee appeared and almost passed out when he realized how young she was. "Huh? What's a kid doing here?"

"Chibi Chibi."

Instead of focusing on themselves, everyone in the cafe silently watched this toddler to see what she would do next.

"Chibi Chibi?" The employee scratched his head. "Kid... I'm afraid I don't understand that. Wherever you came from, you should go back. It's not safe for someone your age to be out alone."

"To be out alone."

Rouge grew confused to hear the toddler repeat the employee's sentence like this. Who was she?

For the next few seconds, no one seemed to say a word, until the brooch on the toddler's chest glowed a soft pink and the cafe's atmosphere changed.

"Oh, you want a hot fudge sundae?" The employee suddenly smiled down at his little customer. "Well why didn't you say so? One hot fudge sundae, coming right up!"

Other humans inside the cafe were also taken by this child's cuteness and could be heard talking about how adorable and tiny she was to themselves. Rouge and Shadow on the other hand, could realize that something unusual was taking place.

"Did I miss something?" Rouge stared at the toddler then looked back to Shadow, "I didn't even know this cafe served sundaes."

"She's hypnotized everyone."

Rouge became startled as she heard Shadow say this. The bat looked back at the toddler and watched her receive her delicious ice cream, beginning to eat it as if with no care in the world, but only glad to have gotten her way and be served this frozen treat. "Well I'm getting to the bottom of it."

Shadow also rose from his seat and followed Rouge to the bar stools.

The toddler smiled as she kept taking bites out of her ice cream, however the goodness went away when a pair of friends sat on each side of her, placing her in the middle like a completed sandwich. Gently, she set her spoon back inside the sundae glass and looked at these two.

"Hi!" Rouge spoke sweetly, "My name is Miss Rouge the Bat. What's your name, sweetie?"

"Chibi Chibi."

Rouge tilted her head to the side and cleared her throat. "No, that can't be your name. What did your mommy and daddy name you?"

"What did your mommy and daddy name you?"

In so little time, Rouge was already becoming impatient with this dark-pinked haired girl. A vein appeared on the side of her forehead but she plastered that same sweet smile onto her face. "I already told you my name. Now I'm asking what yours is."

Rather than answer Rouge's question, the toddler looked forward to get the employee's attention and rose two of her little fingers into the air. "Chibi!"

"Alright! Two more hot fudge sundaes are on their way."

Rouge face-palmed at the sound of this while Shadow still sat with his arms crossed. This toddler had to be kidding.

Soon enough, the toddler was given two more servings of her chosen ice cream, but she handed each one to her new acquaintances.

"Huh? Oh no, I couldn't, "Rouge insisted by then thinking up a lie, "I'm on a diet." Though in the end, a cup of ice cream still ended up in front of her.

And the same went for Shadow, who couldn't get over the fact that this child reminded him of someone awfully familiar. But why?

In a strange but calm silence, everyone began to eat their desserts as the cafe's clock ticked and the moon outside rose higher into the sky. About fifteen minutes went by until everyone was finished with their ice cream and they found themselves walking down the sidewalk outside.

"Sweetie, you're going to tell us where your parents are. It's bad enough that you didn't give us your name," Rouge stated bluntly.

"Chibi Chibi."

After hearing these words for the last time, Rouge couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, I've came to the conclusion that maybe Chibi Chibi is your name. Well, kid, tell us which street you live on."

Shadow looked up at the sky with his red eyes as he sensed a new energy enter this realm. "Rouge. Look up there."

Shadow's friend did as she was told and she indeed spotted what he was talking about float towards them as a sphere of blue light. Instinctively, she took Chibi Chibi's hand to protect her, but the toddler pulled away from her and went up to the blue light when was in front of them.

"Chibi Chibi!" With Shadow behind her, Rouge chased Chibi Chibi towards the light, but it brightened and blinded them from rescuing her.

The light eventually disappeared and Chibi Chibi was no where to be found.

"No!" Rouge cried out, "Shadow, we have to find out where that light took that little girl."

Shadow nodded in agreement with Rouge.

* * *

_**-Serena's House-**_

After so much walking, Chibi Chibi followed the blue light until it led her to her fated destination. Ever so cutely, she walked up to the front door and knocked on it three times while the light moved to hide inside a bush.

The front door opened and Chibi Chibi noticed Sammy stare wide-eyed at her.

"Uh... mom? Dad?" Sammy looked over his shoulder towards their room upstairs, "There's a little girl standing at the door!"

"A little girl?" Ikuko, very tired from cooking and cleaning all day, came downstairs in her robe with Kenji in a robe himself and saw what their son was talking about. She almost cried with joy when she discovered Chibi Chibi's appearance.

Around this same time, Serena had already drifted to sleep. Her slumber was more comfortable since she hadn't had to share a bed with Rini anymore. Though unfortunately, the blonde was woken up by someone loudly calling her name from downstairs. She rolled out of bed at the frightening sound of it and hurried to see what all of its commotion was.

"My sister? Mom, what're you talking about?" Serena rubbed her eyes sleepily, "It's just me and Sammy."

"Are you saying you don't recognize your own sister, Serena? This is your little sister, Chibi Chibi. I had her on June 30th, 1992, the same month you were born in. Sammy remembers who she is."

Serena glanced over at Sammy and saw him carrying Chibi Chibi on his shoulder. Chibi Chibi had the cutest smile on her face and that happiness seemed to be spreading over to him.

"Yeah, Serena. I can't believe you'd forget your own sister. You're such a klutz."

"I said it once, and I'll say it again! I don't have a sister!" After making herself crystal clear, Serena stomped back upstairs to her room and slammed her door on the way in. If everyone wanted to believe that there was a fifth member of the Tsukino Family, then so be it, but she wouldn't go for it.

"What's gotten into all of them? Where did that girl come from anyway?"

As Serena laid on on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, a blue light spied on her through her window. It watched how frustrated she'd became after meeting Chibi Chibi. How badly she wanted to go back sleep and wake up as if from a dream. For much longer, it couldn't watch her because she'd turned towards the window and almost spotted it.

"Huh?" Serena's curiosity made her rise from bed and go over to her window to open it and see if she would find the hint of that blueness once more. But it'd retreated to the roof and was out of her sight. So Serena closed her window and went back to bed.

Chibi Chibi was given a blanket and pillow to use to lay on the couch in the living room. Ikuko had kissed her goodnight and put the covers over her, so now the blue light could know that she was okay.


	34. Chapter 34

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

After reciting the Symbol of Nine Protective Characters, Rei silenced herself and looked into the fire. Its embers danced and flickered calmly as it always did, however they soon began moving in a wild manner, almost touching Rei in the process.

She moved back a bit as this occurred and finally began to see what the fire was illustrating. What had been revealed was some sort of blue star floating in deep in the constellation, Sagittarius. Rei remembered this constellation from reading Ami's astrology book, so she identified its star to be the Sagittarius Alpha Star that was covered in glittering cosmic dust. Though she couldn't recall the glass castle existing within this place. Just where had that came from?

A bead of sweat trickled down Rei's face as she sensed badness about this castle. With her extra sensory perception, the priestess realized that this was where Galaxia lived and was tending to the garden her servant mentioned. She could never shake off the weird vibes she was experiencing every time she looked into the fire at this castle.

It was later on that the fire revealed Galaxia and her servants standing in the Star Garden and watching all of their farmed crystals rise up from their roots. There'd had to be about twenty... no, fifty... no... a hundred!

Rei gasped as she'd miserably lost count of all these crystals and watched them continue ascending from the ground. They all shared the same purpose and destination. To arrive on Earth and inhabit it to fulfill their master's dark deed.

"No way...!" Rei couldn't find the words to say as this vision left her too speechless. When the flames finally ended the vision and left Rei to process it all, she found herself unable to move. "So many crystals... how do they plan to use them all against us?"

Rei could only gaze into the fire and ponder on this new dilemma with just this vision she'd received as her hint.

"I've called you all here to tell you about a vision I had last night."

All of Sonic Moon, with the addition of Julian in their alliance now, stood outside Rei's house to join Rei in the discussion she was starting.

"I saw where the Shadow Galactica's castle is. It's in the center of the galaxy, hiding inside one of the Sagittarius constellation's stars."

"What?" Tails reacted with disbelief, "But that can't be possible. Humans can only exist on planets."

"What did this castle look like?" Shadow asked Rei.

"It was very tall, and golden. The structure looked a lot like that cathedral we visited in Sky Sanctuary."

"Galaxia." Sonic thought to this long-time nemesis and looked up at the sky. "So she's got fortresses all over the place."

"But why would she want to set her castle in outer space?"

Sonic curiously looked over to Tails who brought up this question.

"Because if she does that then it will be easy for her to invade more planets," Serena explained to Tails, "Before Trista left for the Space-Time Door, she told me about how Shadow Galactica goes around destroying different planets and taking all of their Star Seeds. When she gathered her followers, she ordered them to snatch the Star Seeds of each planet guardian so they could use their powers."

"And when she came to my home and noticed me, she tried to make me one of her followers too," Sonic added to Serena's explanation.

"Oh, I get it." Tails looked over to Ami and Julian in wonder of what these genius's thought about a castle being seen in outer space.

Julian stood with his hand placed to his chin as he was thinking. Then finally, the good scientist parted his lips. "Since this is outer space you're talking about, then maybe I could build a space ship for us to use."

"Oh, no, that won't be necessary, Julian," Ami smiled as she liked Julian's thoughtfulness, "The Sailor Scouts can teleport everyone there by using Sailor Teleport."

Julian became intrigued by what Ami just said, "Sailor Teleport... how does that work?"

"Easy. At least five of the Inner Sailor Scouts have to hold hands for it to work, so once you have that, more Sailor Scouts can join while anyone else can just stand in the middle of the circle we make," Lita explained to Julian, "We're not sure how far we're able to go, but we've went as far as the Moon."

"You guys went to the Moon?" interjected Amy.

"Yep."

"I would love to go there..."

"Really?"

Amy noticed Serena look over at her and ask her this. "Yes."

The hedgehog felt a bit uneasy as Serena stared at her with curiosity. She had meant what she said about wanting to go to the Moon.

"Then you'll get to see it," Serena smiled at Amy.

"Now that I think about it, I believe that I would love to see the Moon too," came Vanilla's voice.

"And me too!" Cream added, "I want to see the kingdom that Serena used to live in. I'm sure that it was so large and beautiful."

"Sounds to me like you girls are already planning a field trip," Sonic said with a happy smile, "But sadly, it'll have to wait. Rei, when the vision showed you Galaxia's castle, did it tell you anything about her garden?"

"Yeah. I saw her and her servants standing in a garden of crystals. All of them had bloomed and started rising from where they were planted, but there were so many. I lost count after one hundred, and I just kept seeing more and more."

"You're saying these girls planted hundreds of these crystal things?" asked Knuckles.

"More than that."

Knuckles began to think of this possibility and found himself clenching his teeth. Those Chaos Soldiers were up to the darkest evil.

"Well, what're we waitin' for? We gotta go and destroy that garden before any of it gets sent here," Vector raised his fist.

"Chibi Chibi!"

"Huh?" Vector instantly blinked with confusion.

Soon Sonic Moon's meeting came to an awkward close as they heard this tiny voice. They looked to Hikawa Shrine's gate and noticed a little girl walking towards them with her baby feet. Out of all the people they could've seen-

"Chibi Chibi!" Rouge and Shadow exclaimed in unison.

"Chibi Chibi? Bocoe and Decoe asked confusedly.

Serena groaned and stomped over to Chibi Chibi to kneel down in front of her. "I thought I told you to stay home! I'm having an important talk with my friends right now."

"You know her too?"

Serena heard Rouge send her this question and so she looked over her shoulder at the bat, then stood up to face her. "No, I don't know where she came from. She showed up at my house last night and has been there ever since."

Chibi Chibi looked behind Serena at everyone else and realized how speechless they were of her arrival. To them, she was so cute and mysterious, so small that she looked to be two or three years old. And those eyes of hers looked like Serena's...

"Awww, she is so cute!" Michelle went up to Chibi Chibi and sat in front her to have a better look. "Look, Amara. She shares a strong resemblance with Serena."

"Does she?" Mina quickly approached Serena's twin and studied her physical features as well, causing almost everyone to do the same and crowd around Chibi Chibi like she was a celebrity.

"She has a hairstyle similar to Serena's." Amy twirled her finger around one of Chibi Chibi's curls. "Luna, do you know if Serena and Darien ever have a second kid in the future?"

"Amy!" Vanilla exclaimed with shock.

Immediately, Serena's cheeks turned red. She couldn't believe what Amy was saying, let alone thinking.

Even Sonic and some of the other furries were taken aback by this question that Lita deliberately blurted out.

"Amy, I'm not sure if that is the first assumption to make!" Luna tried to calm down.

"Yeah, don't just go and assume things like that!" Serena tried defending herself, "Besides, I'm sure that Rini is my only daughter. For all we know, Chibi Chibi could belong to Rini."

"What?" Rini's face became pinker than the shade of pink that colored her hair. "Wait a minute! I haven't even met my prince yet! I'm still just a kid!"

"So you saying I'm not a kid?" Serena argued back.

"Well duh! In my time, you're in your early twenties!"

"Well in this time, I'm sixteen, and not a legal adult for another two years!"

Luna put her paw to her forehead and heaved out a sigh. She sensed that a disagreement would rise between these two, and now it was starting to begin.

"You're still older than me because your body wasn't exposed to the Silver Crystal like mine was! In this body, there's still the ten-year old Rini all of you know!"

"Oh yeah? Well that doesn't change anything! If Darien and I did have Chibi Chibi, then she would've came back to this time when you first did!"

Rini lost her words and found herself losing this debate. "Hmph." The Princess of Earth looked down at Chibi Chibi, staring specifically into her crystal-blue eyes.

...

...

"Well, I know for a fact that I'm not her mom. When I was awakened, I never learned anything about my future except that I would be a Sailor Scout. Maybe she's another Sailor Scout that hasn't found her destiny yet."

"Another Sailor Scout?" Artemis thought out loud, "If that's true, then why she is so young?"

"That couldn't be the case here." Vector walked up to Chibi Chibi and knelt down to examine her. "No one this young can understand how ta' fight crime and beat up the bad guys. This little tike is probably just a distant relative you guys have never met."

"A distant relative?" Serena and Rini both asked as they looked at each other.

"That is a possibility," Espio commented on Vector's words with his arms crossed, "Though in the meantime, we should return to the matter at hand and deal with this matter later."

"Yeah... pretty much what Espio said," Charmy said with a casual tone.

Serena turned to face Chibi Chibi again and sent a serious expression at her. "Well, that's the deal, Chibi Chibi. Let's take you back to my mom and dad." Serena reached for the toddler's hand but saw her move it away.

Everyone else became startled by this and began to see Serena losing her patience with taking Chibi Chibi's hand.

"Chibi Chibi, I don't have time to play with you," Serena forced a smile to show on her face, "Give me your hand so I can walk you home."

"Give me your hand so I can walk you home." Chibi Chibi looked up at Serena with innocent eyes.

"Grrrr!" Serena balled up her fists and could be seen about to blow her casket, though Vanilla was able to remedy the situation by stepping in and telling Serena she would handle it.

"Please don't be upset with her. Let me try." Vanilla knelt down in front of Chibi Chibi and extended her hand towards her. "It's alright, sweetheart. I'm not going to take you home. Take my hand."

Chibi Chibi looked down at Vanilla's delicate hand then back up into her face. Everything about this lop-eared rabbit was peaceful and inviting. Unlike Serena, she had more patience and motherly instincts.

Sonic Moon watched Chibi Chibi slowly decide whether or not to take Vanilla's hand, until she made her mind up and started walking towards it. This scene that was commencing was adorable and cute to some of the girls; they couldn't help but squeal and giggle over it.

"That blue light!" Shadow exclaimed with surprise.

"Where?" Rouge searched for what her best friend was talking about, and together with her other friends, spotted the blue light appeared on the ground a few feet behind Chibi Chibi.

"Huh?" Chibi Chibi's attention was snatched away from Vanilla, so rather than take her hand, she turned on her heel and started walking towards the blue light.

"What's that blue light?" Bokkun had never seen such a soft and magical glow as he did now. He himself felt drawn to it, but it was also an unknown glow.

"Chibi Chibi," Serena started following the little girl.

The atmosphere was far from having any kinds of noises as everyone became fixated on this blue light and Chibi Chibi approaching it.

"Come back, sweetie," Rouge told Chibi Chibi as she caught up to Serena.

But the child didn't listen. She stretched her hand forward to touch the blue light and cause it to make everyone cover their faces from its flashing light.

"Chibi Chibi!" Serena ran past Rouge and closer to the girl in hopes of still reaching her, and so just as the flash finally disappeared, she also wasn't to be seen.

"Serena!" Everyone cried out.

* * *

_**-Never Lake-**_

After being in darkness for so long, Serena moaned and slowly opened her eyes and found the light. "Where am I...?"

Everywhere Serena looked, there were rocky mountains and steep ledges. What she sat on now was a cliff when she came to realize it. And down below...

"Wow!"

One of the largest, most beautiful bodies of water that she'd ever laid her eyes on. The moon and its luminescent light reflected deeply against this lake. A silver koi fish leapt out of the water and made a nice splash, each of the splash's cascades glittering like diamonds.

Filled with this awe and curiosity, Serena rose to her feet to begin finding a way to approach this lake. Some time later, she got down from the cliff and was making her way towards this water now. Though surprisingly, she noticed a familiar kid kneeling down in front of it. "Chibi Chibi!"

Chibi Chibi looked back as she heard someone calling her name. When she saw who it was, a big smile came to her face and she got up to greet them. "Chibi Chibi!"

Serena found herself embracing this toddler when she rushed up to her. "Don't scare me like that again." She studied her surroundings again. "What is this place?"

If Serena wasn't mistaken, she was sure that she looked back at the lake and in Chibi Chibi's reflection, saw someone who looked exactly like Neo-Queen Serenity with silver hair. She gasped and blinked one time, and her future self was still there. Appearing to take off her crown.

As Serena kept staring at this watery reflection, she didn't see what happening in reality. A precious amulet rested in Chibi Chibi's hands. As Serena finally looked at this, she realized the difference and was left utterly stunned. Where had she gotten this?

"Chibi Chibi..." Serena said with a soft tone.

Chibi Chibi's reflection gently shoved her crown closer to Serena.

The younger girl didn't understand why as her reflection stared at this studded headpiece. She looked down to Chibi Chibi and noticed she was smiling a smile that said, "It's alright. Take it."

So Serena heeded these invisible words and took the crown, or rather, the amulet. "Thank you."

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

"You mean this isn't the first time this blue light has taken that girl away?" Espio questioned Rouge, "Hmm... well then it looks your guess was wrong, Vector. Chibi Chibi is more than we thought."

"Fair enough." Vector turned his eyes to the sky.

"Vector, dear."

"Hm?" Vector heard Vanilla call his name.

"Where do you think that light took Serena and Chibi Chibi?"

"Uh..." Vector cleared his throat, "To a different city."

Before Vector or anyone else could think to speak again, the entire area became tinted by a blue glow. And to everyone's expectance, the same light from before arrived and returned Serena to them.

"Serena!" Rini ran up to her future-mother with Sonic and Rei close behind her. "Where'd Chibi Chibi go?"

"She'll be back." Briefly, Serena explained her visit to Never Lake and Chibi Chibi's unusual reflection she saw from its water. "She gave me this amulet so now Darien doesn't need to work at the game arcade anymore! He can sell this to have money for school! Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, that's awesome," Sonic said with a thumbs up, "So Chibi Chibi is on our side?"

"I don't believe we should be so quick to assume that," Luna advised her cohorts, "We haven't learned much else about her ever she came here. Sonic Moon should still keep its guard up."

"I agree with that," said Shadow.

Before actually leaving for their planned destination, Rei checked in with her grandfather and told him that she would be gone with her friends for a while, and that the Autumn Festival would have to be postponed. He wasn't pleased to hear it, but she explained to the Shinto Priest that she needed to confront some people who were giving her and her friends a hard time.

Then, Serena hurried over to Darien's job to give him the amulet and explain where Sonic Moon was going. He verily wished that he could accompany them, and so Andrew allowed the young man to leave because he told him it was an emergency.

"Is everyone ready?" Rei asked as she came back outside.

Everyone nodded and after the Sailor Scouts transformed, prepared to use Sailor Teleport.

Since Rini had gained a new brooch, she didn't have the same transformation as the other Sailor Scouts, so she stood out as they'd grabbed hands and formed a circle.

Amy, Charmy, Julian, the Moon Cats, and the Rabbit Family watched as each Sailor Scout were engulfed in purple energy and their hairs levitated once their planetary symbols appeared under their feet.

Amy could be seen holding onto her Sonic Doll as she watched the real Sonic standing in that circle with his eyes closed. She was of course eager to follow him on this new adventure to outer space, but they'd asked her to stay behind this time. The Rosy Rascal couldn't help but give in to it easily since she hadn't told everyone about how she almost lost her life back on the Egg Carrier. Maybe it was for the best if she didn't take part in this quest.

Knuckles felt himself start to float above the ground and realized that this magical transportation was about to commence. And because there was the addition of Hyper Uranus, Hyper Neptune, and Mini Moon, there was more power involved.

When everyone least expected it, the Sailor Scouts instantly vanished.

"Mother, they will be okay, won't they?" Cream asked as she and Cheese looked up at Vanilla.

"Of course, dear. They'll be alright."


	35. Chapter 35

_**-Outer Space-**_

**Song Insert: Sonic Adventure DX "Speed Highway 3" [EXTENDED] **

The Sailor Scouts appeared in the galactic, starry, vast area that was known as outer space with their circle still formed. A white orb carried them and their friends to keep them all together. The comrades that could be seen in the middle of the Sailor Scouts were Super Sonic, Super Knuckles, Rouge, Super Shadow, Omega, Vector, a new Super Espio, and Tuxedo Mask. Everyone else was asked to stay home as Rei's vision warned her that this journey would be too dangerous.

"Where do we go from here, Mars?" Hyper Uranus asked as they floated inside their orb.

"This way." Hyper Mars told her allies to help her fly to the left, the direction where she could sense more of the Shadow Galactica's dark presence. They were already here.

Rouge let out a gasp as she discovered a large object coming their way. "Sailor Scouts! Watch out for that giant asteroid up there!"

Everyone looked to where Rouge pointed and spotted a huge space rock coming their way.

"There's enemies up there," Shadow warned his allies.

"Is that right? Well let's go introduce ourselves!" As he flashed a smirk, Super Sonic and his team flew straight for the asteroid and landed on its pink, flowery surface. He couldn't help but look at its flowers and wonder if they were the same ones Galaxia was going to use for her garden.

A far distance away from them were the creatures that Shadow referred to, standing in big numbers with their spider legs and humanoid upper bodies.

"Wait! I remember these creatures!" pointed out Hyper Jupiter.

"What are they?" Super Knuckles asked.

"Flower Youma."

Hyper Venus looked to this Glycina variety of Flower Youma and remembered the budded petals on their backs. "We have to watch out for their arms or they'll drain our energy to store in those flowers on their backs."

"Got it!" Like the natural-born warrior he was, Super Knuckles flew towards his new enemies with his fists packed.

Mini Moon placed her hands on the sides of her brooch and in a flash of pink light, caused the Sailor Quartet to come forth.

Super Sonic looked down at the enhanced Magic Gloves he was wearing and with a toothed grin, followed after Super Knuckles. He was going to kick some serious butt with these.

The wave of Glycina responded by rushing towards Sonic Moon with their hands already changing into vines.

"Battle activation ready!" Omega retracted his claws to bring out flamethrowers and burn the Glycina who came his way. They were kept from approaching the robot any closer as his fire was unleashed.

"DEEP... SHAKING!" Both Hyper Neptune and Hyper Uranus shared this attack. Their combined energies went towards their enemies and made a direct hit, washing them away and leaving the ground destroyed from an earthquake.

"Mercury! Let's see if we can do that!" Hyper Mars called the Water Soldier.

Some Glycina had already surrounded Hyper Mars and so Hyper Mercury took care of her own enemies with a simple Shine Aqua Illusion. Then she had time to rush over to her comrade's side and join attacks with her.

"Alright!" Hyper Mercury stood with her back against Hyper Mars as the Glycina surrounded and came for them.

"SHINE... SOUL!"

Both heroines spun around as their magic was being released. Hyper Mars sent an immense blast of fire towards the Glycina while Hyper Mercury's freezing ice followed it, creating a steam so foggy that no one could see. They'd had to wait for it to disappear to see their foes destroyed with bits of burnt flower, vines, and hair strands everywhere. They cheered at this outcome but put their fists up as more Glycina appeared.

"Prepare to face the wrath of the Ultimate Life Form!" Super Shadow had the sole option of taking off his Inhibitor Rings in this battle, but he didn't want to take the risk that Trista mentioned during their venture to Volcano Valley Zone. Surely he would be able to take down these overgrown weeds without doing that. So he curled into a ball and rammed into each of his opponents using Spin Dash.

"Help!"

Quickly, Super Shadow looked behind him and found Super Tails to be entangled by a Glycina's vines. Green sparks danced along their vines and raced around Super Tails as his energy was being sucked away and he struggled to break free. So like any hero, Shadow teleported himself over to the vine and karate-chopped it in half.

Super Tails fell the ground and gingerly rubbed his neck where the tight hold was, then he noticed Super Shadow come up to him.

"Tails, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Shadow." Shortly after Super Tails said this, he and the Ultimate Life Form looked jumped as another vine had tried to grab them.

Super Espio let out a battle cry as he revealed a technique that not even Super Sonic had expected to see. Like Super Shadow's Chaos Spear, Super Espio summoned sharp items made of Chaos Energy except it was a pair of Japanese katanas. The swift chameleon dodged and struck down each of his foes until all seemed well, but more appeared.

"Grr! These Flower Youma just don't know when to quit!" Rouge kicked a Glycina down while having to turn around and stop another one.

"You could say that again!" Super Sonic came to Rouge's aid and sent Chaos Energy blasts at each Glycina that approached them. "Serena! How are you holding up?"

Hyper Moon's tiara came back to her after it destroyed a row of Glycina.

"I'm doing fine!" Hyper Moon smiled to Super Sonic and gave a thumbs up. Just like he always did.

"This ends now!" Hyper Venus raised her hands as Hyper Jupiter stood beside her and did the same. "CRESCENT... BEAM... SHOWER!"

"JUPITER, OAK, EVOLUTION!"

Both these furious light beams and leaf-shaped blasts damaged the Glycina to where entire rows of them were wiped out. No more of these Flower Youmas came back as quickly, though some who flew through the air showed up and snatched Hyper Venus and Hyper Jupiter when least expected.

"Jupiter! Venus!" cried Mini Moon. As if on schedule, these flying Flower Youma arrived and tried to snatch Mini Moon. "Get away from me!"

Tuxedo Mask pulled out some roses and threw them at Mini Moon's enemies. Meanwhile, Ceres and Mini Moon's other guardians finished them off with their usual attack.

While watching these Flower Youma receive the Asteroid Soldiers's damage and explode, Tuxedo Mask started recognizing them. "Everyone! Watch out for the Flower Youma that are flying over you! Their arms can transform into blades!"

Since this was the case, Super Espio held up his katanas, and Vector his fists.

"You broads think you're so tough? Come at us!" Vector shouted boastfully.

The flying Flower Youma that Vector referred to, otherwise known as Campanula, rushed towards him and Super Espio with those swords that Tuxedo Mask mentioned.

These Campanula had to think twice if they expected to take Hyper Moon's friends and make a successful escape. She chased them down while her friends were busy fighting other Flower Youmas, panting for breath as they flew so fast. "Jupiter! Venus!"

While punching down a Glycina who almost snatched him with her vine, Super Sonic looked back and noticed the trouble Hyper Moon was having.

"Sailor Moon!" Hyper Venus cried out. Both she and Hyper Jupiter watched their determined leader try to keep up with them. Their captors wouldn't slow down for anything, but Hyper Moon wouldn't stop flapping her wings.

This leader had an idea of attacking the Campanula, but there existed the risk of also hurting her friends. If only she she were closer...

"Serena!"

Hyper Moon looked back and noticed Super Sonic flying towards her. "Sonic!" She watched the golden hedgehog continue past her in the direction of the Campanula who took off with their friends.

Within so little time, Super Sonic stopped the Flower Youma in their tracks and pointed his arms at them. Before they could think to move, each of his enemies was being shrinked and encased inside transparent white balls, spheres that he soon took hold of and destroyed when he threw them at some Glycina on the ground below.

"Thanks, Sonic! We owe you won!" Hyper Jupiter told the hedgehog as they all hovered in the air.

"Venus and Jupiter!" Hyper Moon flew up to her fellow Sailor Soldiers with a relieved smile, "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," answered Hyper Venus, "Sonic, I still don't understand how your gloves can let you do that."

"Don't ask me. Ask the awesome genius who made them," Super Sonic smiled heroically, "But enough chit-chat. Let's finish this!"

"Right!" The Hyper Sailor Soldiers followed after Sonic to go back and help their allies finished what had been started.

Vector yelled as he sent his fist into a Glycina and she was sent tumbling back a far distance. These alien creatures wouldn't stop coming, and where they all originated from was a mystery. "Is it just me or does this fight feel like it's never-endin'?"

Super Espio stabbed another of his enemies straight through their chest and kept others on their toes as he kept sending slashes. "No, it isn't just you. Something about the way these creatures keep coming is highly unusual."

As if hearing Super Espio and Vector's conversation, Hyper Mercury revealed her Mercury Visor and did a scan of this asteroid they were fighting on. Suddenly, green dots digitized onto her screen to show information behind each of the pink flowers on the ground. And that's when she remembered... "Everyone!" Hyper Mercury made her visor disappear, "The reason these Flower Youma come in large numbers is because of this pink garden! They feed off of other species and evolve from these flowers we're standing on!"

"What?" As if in disgust, Rouge lifted her feet to look down at the plants she'd been standing on. "Well, how do we stop them?"

"Sounds to me like it's time this garden needs some tending to!" Super Knuckles turned to where he saw Omega some feet away and shouted out to him. "Omega! Lend us some of your fire, would ya'? Mars, same for you!"

"Affirmative, Knuckles!" said Omega.

"Sure, no problem!" agreed Hyper Mars.

With a strategy found and decided, Super Knuckles and the friends he called on all began to prepared their fire-based attacks. Super Sonic and Super Tails were required to help the Master Emerald Guardian if he expected to use his ability, Fire Dunk, so they let him grab them and turn them into fireballs, then throw them across the ground at such high velocities.

"MARS... CELESTIAL FIRE... SURROUND!" Hyper Mars threw each of her blazing rings into different directions, watching them begin to ignite and burn the Glycina flowers to the ground.

Similar to the Fire Dunk, Omega displayed Fire Launcher, where he shot Super Shadow and Rouge at the flowers with burning trails behind them.

The Glycina and Campanula realized what their enemies were trying to do, so they lunged at them to keep the fight going and not give in so easily. Hope still lingered in the balance.

By now, the flames in the pink flowers had scattered so wildly and quickly that it was making its way towards Sonic Moon.

"Ah!" Mini Moon jumped back from the embers before feeling Vesta take her by the hand.

"Princess, it's time for us to go."

Rouge kicked down another Campanula who'd decided to fight her in the air, and that was when she looked down and noticed that her friends were about to be taken down with the burning field of flowers themselves. "Hey! You guys, I think it's time we left this place!"

After obliterating the last Campanula who came up from above, Super Shadow heeded Rouge's words and flew away from the ground. One by one, his team mates followed him, until the asteroid was left with the last few Glycina who'd been touched by their enemies flames and eventually went down with the pink garden.

In the same white orb from using Sailor Teleport, and the Asteroid Soldiers included, Sonic Moon watched this asteroid continue floating in the direction it was given, this rock that looked like a glowing red star. Though they knew what had to be done next.

"CHAOS RIFT!"

A desired rift in time and space opened and the burning asteroid was pulled towards it until it went in, being transported to whatever time or dimension fate had in store for it. Then the gap closed.

**-Song Insert Ends-**

"Phew!" Super Sonic wiped his brow. "Being on that asteroid for so long when it was hot is making me thirsty now."

"Yeah..." Hyper Moon dreamed of a refreshing, cold dessert with whatever drink her hedgehog friend was thinking about as she held hands with the other Sailor Soldiers. "Mars, do we still go the same way from here?"

"Yeah." Hyper Mars focused on locating the Sagittarius Alpha Star as her comrades helped her go there. She was sure that it was the same one she'd seen in her vision. There was only one, with the very same Sagittarius constellation and golden castle.

During the venture there, Sonic Moon passed different planets whether they be recognizable or absolutely unknown. They came in different colors and sizes, but all reminded them of where they actually were. Galaxia indeed decided to have her castle be in outer space. Sonic Moon was in fact far away from home,traveling through fields and fields of stars that they didn't know. To Super Tails and Hyper Mercury, this adventure was by far, the most extraordinary.

"There it is." To have himself a better view, Tuxedo Mask removed his mask and looked at the pattern of stars that he and his allies had been searching for.

"It's amazing!" Rouge thought out loud.

"So many stars packed together looks beautiful," Super Knuckles managed to admit.

"So this is where Galaxia's castle is, eh?" Super Sonic asked as everyone kept advancing towards it, "I have to say I'm not that surprised."

"Why?" Pallas asked Super Sonic.

"Well, Tails remembers the last time he and I came out here and had to take a bad guy down. Buddy, why don't you tell them the story?"

"Sure." As requested, Super Tails narrated the adventure where he and Super Sonic learned of Eggman creating an interstellar amusement park. Apparently, the genius scientist claimed that he made this humongous place to make up for all of the trouble he caused over the years. But Super Sonic hadn't believed him. While investigating Eggman's plans, they discovered all kinds of fun that lurked inside his playland whether it be lands covered in sprinkled donuts and layered cakes with jelly beans, underwater places that would take one back to feudal Japan times with their exterior designs and delicious sushi menu, or raging roller coasters that would take one through dozens of asteroids... and deeper into the heart of what Eggman was really conducting.

It'd been totally obvious that Eggman wasn't making a theme park. Rather, inside the heart of an asteroid that Super Sonic found after getting off the roller coaster, he discovered that Eggman was capturing tiny aliens known as Wisps and using their energy to power up his mind-control beam.

"The Wisps are a playful but powerful alien race that come from the Planet Wisp. One of those Wisps, named Yacker, helped us figure out what Eggman was really up to," Super Tails continued talking.

"Wow..." Vesta responded to this explanation, "I must admit... I never met Eggman, but this plan that you're saying he did was pretty clever. I probably would've thought that he turned over a new leaf too."

"Vesta, you're so gullible," said Jun.

With an offended frown, Vesta looked over to her sister and fussed. "Hmph! You're one to talk! You can't tell me those places Tails described didn't sound the least bit exciting to you. I would love to be in a place like Tropical Resort."

"Better yet, what about that Starlight Carnival?" came Pallas voice, "Now I would love to see what that's about."

"Uh... well, Eggman's theme park was destroyed after Sonic defeated him. He had to destroy it if he wanted to set the Wisps free."

"Aww..." Vesta, Jun, and Pallas all looked down with sorrow when this sad news came to them.

Ceres couldn't help but giggle at this comical reaction then give a tiny smile to Tails. "Don't feel bad, Tails. My sisters and I just haven't been out that much since we slept in the Amazon for so long. Our lives need more excitement."

"Excitement, huh?" Super Sonic couldn't help but pick this word from Ceres's conversation. Whenever this fight against Galaxia was over... no, this war between Sailor Soldiers and Chaos, then he would make sure to show Rini's guardians what they were missing out on.

"We're here."

All side conversations came to a close as Hyper Mars said this, and everyone looked at the blue star to where she specifically looked.

"Sagittarius Alpha Star." Hyper Neptune exchanged glances with Hyper Uranus. "Are you ready, Uranus?"

"I was born ready." With these confident words said, Hyper Uranus continued on towards their enemy's castle with her friends beside her.


	36. Chapter 36

_**-Entrance to Galaxia's Palace-**_

Besides the exterior of Galaxia's castle that Hyper Mars described, there existed a bridge that stuck out like a plank on a pirate ship. Sonic Moon floated down and landed on it, then the Sailor Scouts let go of each others' hands and turned towards the gold structure in front of them.

"So this is it." Hyper Moon looked around at everyone and could see how serious and silent they were about this new setting. Chaos and everything consisting of it were the only energies present; each hero stood like lit candles in its dark room.

Super Sonic stopped evil so many times before, but now when he faced these doors leading to Galaxia's Palace, he felt almost nervous. Galaxia wasn't someone who he fought against during just one of his adventures or one of his quests, but for thousands of years! The Soldier of Solitude was more of the hedgehog's arch-nemesis then Eggman would ever be. She was the one he should've tried to defeat, but his memories were erased and he went above life using a different path. Now the blue hero could finish what he'd started though.

"Is everyone ready?" Hyper Mars asked her allies.

Everyone could be seen nodding their heads and saying yes. So once that was over, they began walking up to the palace doors and tried opening them. Super Knuckles took care of it and led his comrades in. They entered a room entirely made of gold and saw that in front of them lay the trail which was sure to lead them to Galaxia.

"Let's go," said Super Shadow. This hedgehog looked at every wall and corner of the room as he and his team mates walked through it. For nothing did he want to be caught off guard; those energies of Shadow Galactica's that he felt back on Earth were stronger now. Him and his allies were at Chaos's core.

The hallways filled immensely with the shuffling sounds of everyone's footsteps, about eighteen pairs of feet. Other than that, it was silent.

While Mini Moon stayed close to the Sailor Quartet, Tuxedo Mask went over to Hyper Moon and gently squeezed her shoulder. This masked man never spoke on it much, but working long hours at the Crown Game Arcade and not getting to hang out with everyone stressed him out. He was apart of the team, but never being there to support, whether it be their pleasant times like the picnic they had in Mystic Ruins, or even the dreadful times like when Hyper Moon and Super Sonic were falsely accused for blowing up Juuban High School... he'd missed it all.

Hyper Moon looked back at Tuxedo Mask when she felt his touch. "Darien..."

"Serena..."

From where she was, Mini Moon smiled at this moment between her future-parents as it seemed to please her. There were times she became jealous over their relationship and wanted to spend more father-daughter time with Darien, but there was no point in worrying over that. One way or another, Darien loved his future-wife and future-daughter equally. There was always going to be enough time for him to spend quality moments with both of them, especially now that he wouldn't have to work at the Crown Game Arcade anymore.

To be on the cautious side, Hyper Mercury put on her Mercury Visor and did a full scan of the room they were pacing through. She found that no signs of life forms were in the room or in any nearby places, so everyone could be notified.

"I can feel the very essence of Chaos in this place,"Super Knuckles thought out loud, "The same way I felt when I learned how my tribe tried to steal the Chaos Emeralds. When Sailor Moon gave us our memories and we learned about our past, there were some things I learned too."

"Like what?" Super Tails asked the echidna.

"How everything we know falls into place. Now that we've became allies with the Sailor Scouts, I've been having these strange dreams."

"Strange dreams?" Ceres asked curiously.

"Strange in the sense that everything it revealed to me is connected to Chaos. Galaxia. The Chaos Emeralds. Even Eggman."

"Eggman?" Super Sonic couldn't help but blurt out, "Are you sure about that, Knuckles?"

"Positive." Super Knuckles turned his sights to his spiny rival. "Believe it or not, Sonic, you never used to be Sonic the Hedgehog. You were this little kid who was on your own and never had any place to call home. Your love for running was what kept your spirit alive, and when you bumped into Julian, you two became the best of friends and he used you for an experiment."

Super Sonic gasped and immediately looked down at his sneakers and thought to Julian. Something inside his mind clicked when he thought about this good-hearted man. The flashbacks and memories that he tried so hard to push back came overflowing now like a gushing waterfall. "You're right! I remember now... back on South Island... he made these shoes for me to test them out and that was when everything changed. That was when I became Sonic!" Super Sonic flashed an arrogant smile, "Sonic was my name and speed was my game, and still is!"

"Yeah, that's for sure," Rouge put a hand to her hip and smiled, "I may not have an extraordinary story like you boys do, but I do know how Chaos is connected to everything. Chaos worked through Black Doom and gave him orders to help Professor Gerald make Shadow. The Black Arms has been around for thousands of years and til' this day, they still try to cause trouble."

"But you guys, there's still one more part to this story we're forgetting about,"Super Knuckles reminded the others, "Julian had a plan to get rid of all the evil on Mobius. He made this machine that was powered with six Chaos Emeralds and still needed the seventh one, so when he met Sonic, you guys both went out to try and look for it. But it was with me on Angel Island at the time."

"What happened after that?" queried Hyper Uranus.

"After they realized that they wouldn't be able to find the last emerald, they went back inside Julian's lab. Julian went over to his fridge to eat something and accidentally tripped over one of his machines wires, and this machine was powered by Chaos Energy, so when he was filled with this Chaos Energy, he absorbed too much and Chaos was able to turn him into the Eggman we all knew."

"Wait, I'm not sure if I understand." Hyper Mercury interrupted this explanation. "Chaos created Julian's dark counterpart? Chaos is how the Chaos Emeralds came about?"

"I should've known." Super Shadow had his arms folded when this realization dawned on everyone else as it had on him, "So Chaos created the Chaos Emeralds. The blue, mutated Chaos we knew was just another one of his pawns that he was using."

While hearing and taking in all of these words, Super Sonic became saddened.

"Sonic, what's wrong?" Hyper Moon stopped walking and caused everyone else to halt with her because she stood in front of Super Sonic. "You look mad..."

Not wanting to worry this dear, sweet Hyper Moon or any of his other friends, Super Sonic shook his head and put on a half-smile. "Nah, I'm fine. It just blows my mind how the Silver Crystal told us all of this. Before, we all just thought we were the good guys who fought Eggman and dealt with the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald. But that's not all it is. We're dealing with an evil that's older than all of the planets in this galaxy put together. And we're facing it with the Moon Princess, her daughter, and all of their guardians. We're all supposed to protect you and Rini."

Hyper Moon found herself smiling at these words her best friend was saying. The truth to their lives laid so far from them, but now it was presented and told, bringing them closer together than ever before. "I don't think I would want this destiny of mine to be any other way. You, Tails, and the other Sonic Heroes are like family to us. I can't imagine why we didn't have the chance to be with you all during the Silver Millenium, but now we're together and nothing can break us apart."

The anger and overwhelming feelings that aroused Super Sonic's depression began disappearing now. It was people like Hyper Moon that reminded everyone of what was most important and encouraged them to never let those precious and golden times be wasted for nothing. All would work together for the good, and in the end, Chaos would be sent back to whence it came.

"The Chaos that Eggman tried to control used to be nothing more than a Chao. The Knuckles Tribe leader's daughter, Tikal, befriended and watched over dozens of Chao near the Chaos Emeralds' Altar, but one of them was snatched and mutated by the Chaos we're fighting now. He needed a loyal servant to watch over the Chaos Emeralds, so he used what was naive and vulnerable and named it after himself."

"That's so sad..." Mini Moon started to feel heartbroken as she heard these words and thought to Cheese. To imagine an innocent and small Chao like this one be influenced by such a ruthless and demonic evil... brought so much sympathy to her heart that she could feel a tear seep from out of her eye. "Chao don't deserve to be turned evil!"

Each of Mini Moon's guardians surrounded her and hugged the pink-haired heroine to soothe and ease her. They themselves didn't like the sound of a Chao being used for such maleficient purposes, but what was done was done.

"Knuckles," Super Espio got the Master Emerald Guardian's attention, "There are still some things that you didn't tell us about. Why did Chaos create the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Chaos made the emeralds because when he gathered his followers, he was going to give each one an emerald so they could share in his infinite power. But when Galaxia sealed Chaos inside herself, Chaos sent the emeralds to a random planet so she couldn't take them."

"Which was our home planet, Mobius."

"Right. Galaxia could've had the Chaos Emeralds if she didn't fall under Chaos's influence, but he eventually won, and so now they're promised to her."

"Wow... everything you've just said is a lot to take in, Knuckles" Ceres stated as she walked alongside her sisters, "I think now I understand why you become a king in the 30th Century."

"What?" Knuckles's eyes became so wide that they looked like they would come out of their sockets. Had he heard this Asteroid Soldier right?

"Oh nothing." Ceres mentally scolded herself for blurting out a detail like this. She was thankful that no one else heard her, but would remember to never reveal the future like that again.

"We're here, everyone."

Ceres, Super Knuckles, Super Espio, and the rest of the heroes approached a tall set of double doors and felt their hearts pounding. This was the moment they'd been waiting for.

"Well, guys..." Hyper Moon turned around and eyed each of her allies, "This is what all of our fighting has led us up to. The Negaverse. Wiseman and the Black Moon Clan. The Death Busters. Nehelenia. Turning back now wouldn't do us any good."

"Biolizard. Chaos. Dark Gaia. Eggman. All of that's brought us here," said Super Sonic.

"I know that's right," Rouge went up to Hyper Moon and looked at the double doors, "Let's see what's behind these doors." With promptness, Rouge and Hyper Moon each grabbed their own doors knob and eventually pulled the door open. On the other side of these doors laid a white light.

Everyone took in this light's brightness and wondered where it would take them next, however when they consecutively tried to enter it, not everyone was able to step through for some reason.

"What is this?" Jun pushed against this invisible wall with all of her brawny might, but still was not successful. And that was when Hyper Mercury put on her Mercury Visor.

Through this device's screen, the Water Soldier could analyze and see lines of a barrier that existed inside the double doors. So she touched her earring for the item to vanish and told her friends the situation. "These doors contain an invisible barrier."

"What? But Sonic and Serena can get through just fine!" Vector watched Hyper Moon curiously extend her hand past the door.

"Maybe Galaxia wants to allow only those two inside," guessed Super Shadow. When the Ultimate Life Form finished saying this, his ears perked up as he heard noises behind him. To his expectance, a group of purple Youma appeared in the room and stood up like globs of jelly with glowing red eyes. This was the way their bodies looked.

"Looks like we have company." Super Knuckles pounded his fists together.

Hyper Moon and Super Sonic were of course following their instincts to join in this battle, but they noticed Hyper Uranus and Hyper Neptune tell them to stop.

"You two should go on through that door." Hyper Neptune looked them in the eyes until they both came to understood what she was saying. She could see why they would want to help, but a battle bigger than this one with these purple Youma was waiting for them.

So Super Sonic and Hyper Moon nodded then bid the Aquatic Soldier farewell. With a final stare that these leaders put on their other friends, they saw them beginning to war against the purple Youma with different attack methods. Each and every one of them had come a long way in within so little time. The trials and tribulations that came rubbed up against them like wood against sandpaper. And so here they were...

"Ready when you are!" Super Sonic looked back up at Hyper Moon.

"I'm ready," Hyper Moon smiled back down at the golden-yellow hedgehog. As fate had seemed to have it, they both walked through the double doors and into the white light. Eventually, they reappeared in a strange, new dimension where the skies were swirls of black and pink and the floor was made of pure gold.

* * *

_**-Galaxia's Lair-**_

"What is this place?" Super Sonic thought out loud. He looked around him and for miles didn't see anything but the pinkish black skies and same floor. Though right in front of him laid a path that stretched into what seemed like infinity.

"This must be Galaxia's throne room." Hyper Moon turned her eyes to the same path then looked back at her comrade. "Are you ready, Sonic?"

If Super Sonic was ready was the big question. He'd fought evil and saved the world over and over again, countless times. Met awesome people, bettered some of their lives, acted as a hero to the helpless and meek. In one way, someone could call this hedgehog Mobius's savior. A light that would never die out because it didn't matter what obstacle was thrown at him. So how would he answer Hyper Moon's question? With all of this on his heart, he found that same inner peace from when he left Crossroads City and spoke with a sing-song tone. "Oh yeah!"

Hyper Moon liked the sound of this response and realized why Super Sonic acted this way, so she sung back. "All right!"

Together, both the Champion of Love and Justice and the World's Fastest Hedgehog began flying towards the path, going wherever it took them... still singing their hearts out.

"Well I don't show off, don't criticize... I'm just livin' by my own feelings!" Super Sonic started off, "And I won't give in, won't compromise... cus' I only have a steadfast heart of gold!"

"I don't know why I can't leave though it might be tough... but I ain't out of control, just living by my word!" Hyper Moon took turns singing this hip tune. "Don't ask me why, I don't need a reason... I got my way, my own way!"

A spiraling road was up ahead. Hedgehog and Sailor Scout rushed towards it and accelerated along its loop, both singing their song's chorus. "It doesn't matter now what happens... I will never... give up the fight! Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight... it doesn't matter who is wrong and who is right!" They could feel themselves getting closer to the heart of Chaos, though dashing through this golden road would still take some time.

"Well I don't look back, I don't need to... time won't wait and I've got so much to do! Where do I stop now? It's all a blur, it's so unclear... well I don't know, but I can't be wrong!" Super Sonic looked back up to Hyper Moon then increased his speed, letting her know that they should move faster. And so when she caught up to him, they finished the last chorus together.

"It doesn't matter now what happens... I will never... give up the fight! Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight... place all your bets on the one you think is right! Oh, it doesn't matter now what happens... I will never... give up the fight! Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight... it doesn't matter who is wrong and who is right!"

"No... no no no! " In her civilian form, Hyper Venus was the member of the Sailor Scouts who was known to like singing, but right now, Hyper Moon was singing like never before and would probably leave her friends amazed.

Hyper Sonic himself was left in awe of Hyper Moon's voice. He'd began to feel like he brought this wonderful voice from out of her; he remembered their conversation back in front of her house where she said she hoped for the freedom that he and Tails had, but learned that she already held the same thing. "It doesn't matter!" Oh, how happy Super Sonic was that he met her... "Pretty cool! Serena, I never knew you could sing like that!"

"I never thought I could either." Hyper Moon wore a bit of an embarrassed expression on her face. "I just felt like there was so much on my heart and the only way to get it out would be to sing it. Mina and Rei are the ones who love singing."

"Well now it looks like you're rubbing off of them." Super Sonic smiled at Hyper Moon as they kept flying and brought a sweeter smile to her face. Then suddenly, his face scrunched into a frown.

"Sonic, what's wrong?"

Super Sonic kept looking forward as he began to answer his partner's question. "We made it." Slowly, Super Sonic put his feet back on the ground and began to continue walking and taking in his empty surroundings. Galaxia was around here somewhere, but she was keeping herself in hiding.

Beginning to feel the sense of being watched herself, Hyper Moon also returned to the ground and stayed close beside Super Sonic. Their nemesis wasn't that much farther away from them, but rather than procede with their reunion and show herself, she wanted to leave them guessing.


	37. Chapter 37

_**-Galaxia Palace-**_

By now, the battle between Sonic Moon and Galaxia's oozing Youma probably was still taking place, but the heroes wouldn't give in. They weren't fighting just for themselves, or for Earth, whose inhabitants were all at stake of being overtaken by Chaos's wrath... but this constant combat was also for their leaders.

"Sailor Moon..." Deep within the quietest places in their minds, all of the Sailor Scouts thought about how Hyper Moon had changed their lives and how they'd grown to love her so much that they wouldn't trade her for anything. For instance, before Ami, Rei, Lita, or Mina met Serena, they each felt this loneliness that deprived them of their happiness, self-confidence, energy, maybe even health. No one understood their backgrounds or didn't bother to try welcoming them in to their peer groups. A wasted effort. But then the sweet, optimistic, crybaby Serena bumped into them and held out her trust for them to see that they were all something special. Time went on, they grew closer and confided more in each other, and now they were here.

The Sailor Quartet could recall being influenced by Serena's heart and kindness... that day when they were on the verge of giving Nehelenia the Golden Crystal and thus helping her cover the world in darkness. But Serena helped them see that they weren't happy with where they chose to be. They wanted to do fun, happy jobs, but Nehelenia only wanted to use them. They'd been tricked into believing they would stay beautiful forever, and so they betrayed the Dead Moon Queen instantly. "Sailor Moon..."

Sonic, in each of his furry friends' eyes, was one of those people who a person met and didn't regret meeting them for anything at all. Each of them had met the Blue Blur in a different circumstance, and he helped them overcome their personal challenges, similar to the way Serena positively affected all of her friends. Nothing was the same without Sonic, but with Sonic, every adventure was newer and amazing to look forward too. "Sonic..."

The Youma wouldn't rest until their enemies were obliterated. When more of their kind was destroyed, more purple ooze appeared just like that.

"Enough of this!" Super Shadow for one was growing impatient with his enemies constantly coming forth to only get beaten down again and again. It was time for things to come to a close. "CHAOS... CONTROL!" By use of the green Chaos Emerald, Super Shadow opened a rift and watched the Youma all be sucked into it.

The entire room that served as their battlefield was covered in sticky, gooey, purple ooze and had dirtied up some of the Sonic Moon members.

"Eww! This purple stuff is in my hair!" Pallas complained.

"Yeah? Well you're not the only one who has to deal with it."

Pallas heard Vesta say this remark and looked back at the red-haired soldier, along with Jun and Ceres to see that they were covered in the Youmas' goop too.

"We can deal with this purple ooze later." Super Shadow kicked his shoe to get the last drop of ooze off it. "Now that Sonic and Serena are gone, where do we go from here?"

"We could try going over there." Super Espio pointed leftward to where another hallway intersected with the one they were in.

Wasting no time with this suggestion, Super Shadow and the others began towards the hallway and pressed through it until they reached another set of doors.

"Mercury? Do you see any invisible barriers blocking these doors?" asked Super Tails.

"No. Through this visor, it looks normal. It's safe to go through."

"Then let's get to it." Super Knuckles stepped past his comrades and started budging the doors open with his giant fists.

Tuxedo Mask helped the echidna to pull them all the way open, and that was when they could see what lurked behind them. "It's-"

No one could finish Tuxedo Mask's sentence as they were all too astonished and amazed what laid before them. It'd been Hyper Jupiter who finally parted her lips, but even she still sounded speechless at what her eyes were seeing. "Galaxia's garden! From Mars's vision!"

"There's gotta be about a thousand flowers here!" said Mini Moon.

"No." Hyper Mars scanned the top of Galaxia's garden but realized that its flowers went on for miles and miles. "This flower field never ends."

"It has to end somewhere!" Rouge flapped her wings and ascended so she could fly above the flowers and view them from above. They each looked the same with those crystals that'd grown inside of them. And it was this way in every direction she looked. This garden of Galaxia's actually was endless. "I can't believe I'm seeing this..." As Rouge made the intention to turn around go back to her friends, she suddenly felt a sharp pain inflict her left wing and cry her voice out.

"Rouge!" Hyper Venus, Super Shadow and Super Knuckles flew towards the bat quickly as she fell and landed in a patch of Garden Crystals, though they were stopped by a pair that'd been asked to cultivate Galaxia's garden. Both had their hair bundled into high ponytails and wore tops with long, slim skirts. One was red while the other was green.

**Song Insert: Secret Of Mana "Battle" [EXTENDED] **

Super Knuckles growled and started shaking his fists at this pair of women. "Just how many of you guys are there?"

Hyper Venus's fell down to Rouge, and so this traumatized Sailor Soldier rushed to her side to check on her. "Rouge! Are you alright?"

Rouge's faced showed her suffering, but she managed to smile and talk past it. "I'll be fine. They just messed up one of my wings."

Hyper Venus looked to the wing that'd been hit with some kind of dagger. Her mind told her to hurry and snatch the cursed thing out, but that would only make Rouge feel worse. So she began to pick the bat up and take her to safety.

Super Shadow was angered also by these Star Gardeners making the introduction they had. "You Sailor Scouts made an unwise choice just now..."

"Oh, did we?" The Star Gardener dressed in red, named Sailor Chi, looked to her twin sister, Sailor Phi, with a cocky smirk on her face. "I would you say you and your friends are the ones who made a foolish choice. All of these crystals you see around us are finally ready to be sent to Earth. And when that happens, they will gather energy for Shadow Galactica and give our master the power she needs."

When Sonic Moon was at this climatic and serious moment in their adventure, Super Tails remembered something. "It still doesnt make any sense..."

"Huh?" Vector looked over at the golden fox. "What doesn't make sense?"

"Galaxia plans on sending her crystals to Earth to drain it of all its power, but she doesn't want to destroy it like she has so many other planets. Why?"

"Oh yeah? Well we're not gonna just sit back and let that happen!" Super Knuckles barked at Chi, "Earth is our home, and too important to let someone like you guys mess it up!"

"Yeah, Knuckles is right!" added Mini Moon.

Chi could only cross her arms and think on what was just said. She found Sonic Moon's courage to be amusing. "We still don't understand why Master Galaxia won't destroy that planet."

"What are you getting at?" Super Knuckles frowned confusedly.

"She wants to Earth to still exist. If she were to destroy it like she has countless times before, then she wouldn't get to have what was rightfully promised to her."

"The Chaos Emeralds." Super Shadow knew he had said the correct answer to Chi's statement, so he opened his mouth once more. "Each of those was promised to the enemies that the Sailor Scouts faced before Galaxia, but since they all didn't succeed, she's decided that the Chaos Emeralds belong to her."

"Excellent statements, hedgehog." Chi summoned a golden staff that was topped with an orb. "But it won't do you any good if you're dead!"

Super Shadow put his dukes up to prepare for whatever Chi had coming his way.

Phi joined her sibling by raising her hands, and shouting in a loud voice, "GALACTICA... PLANT BLIZZARD!"

A white beam of ice emitted from a magical mirror that Phi pointed at her enemies. Super Shadow and Super Knuckles dodged this but were suddenly confronted with Chi rushing at them with her staff.

"CHAOS SPEAR!"

Roaring like a ferocious lion, Super Knuckles brought out a couple of Thunder Arrows and threw them with all of the swiftness and power he could muster up. As hopeful as he was that his and Super Shadow's attacks would land direct hits, Chi deflected each one with her staff and waited for her enemies to move again.

She decided to try and attack Super Shadow while Phi came forward and assaulted Super Knuckles with her fists.

"You guys! While they're busy fightin', we could be destroyin' Galaxia's garden!" Vector said to everyone.

"Right!" Immediately, Vector and his friends hurried past the fights taking place and began ruining whatever flowers they were near, except for Hyper Venus, who volunteered to stay behind and watch the injured Rouge.

This Sailor Scout began to try to ease the dagger out of Rouge's wing.

Rouge let out a small yelp and scared Hyper Venus from holding the dagger any longer.

"Sorry."

"It's fine," Rouge gave assurance, "Just kept trying to pull it out."

Hyper Venus bit her lower lip and let out a sigh. Trying was all she could do.

After some passing seconds, Phi heard one of her master's enemies burn up a patch of their Garden Crystals and looked over her shoulder to them moving on to another spot. But being distracted like this cost her in the end; for Super Knuckles's fist went straight into her jaw and sent her to the ground. That instant when his hand locked with her face was perfect. Surely her jawbone was broken.

Chi, on the other hand, managed to spot her sister be sent to the ground and still manage to focus on her battle. She growled about seeing Phi be taken down so easily, so she moved faster and faster.

Her opponent was already used to fighting someone at high speeds such as this, since he was the Black Blur after all. When given the right opportunity, he kicked Chi in the stomach and sent her tumbling down towards the garden where Phi was. Then, with all of his own power and swiftness, raised his fists to form an energy ball. "CHAOS... BLAST!"

Quickly, Chi opened her eyes and saw Super Shadow's attack. She leapt out of harm's way and went back up to him to throw a punch. It missed so she kept going, and going, until she got an idea and disappeared.

"What?" Super Shadow hadn't execpted Galaxia's follower to do this. He looked around to try and detect her movements, but was hit from above and flew to the ground face-first.

Super Knuckles didn't have much success either as Phi recovered and was able to hit him when she disappeared and reappeared behind him with a roundhouse kick. The pinkish echidna landed some inches beside Super Shadow and they both picked themselves up. "Hmph! You call this a fight?" Super Knuckles boasted.

Agreeing with Super Knuckles, Super Shadow both went back up to the sky.

Down below where different Garden Crystals were being destroyed, Hyper Mercury and the others continued their mission until it was interrupted by the familiar phrase, "Galactia Puppet." Not knowing where the electrifying attack for these words came from, they all screamed when the electricity hurt them and collapsed to the flowery ground. Not even Hyper Uranus saw this coming.

Hyper Jupiter was one of the first to slowly get up and see who had attacked them. In the distance, she could see another Sailor Scout with reddish-pink hair and an outfit crossed with black and yellow. Sailor Theta.

Once everyone stood back up, they noticed this individual and prepared themselves to face her.

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!" Hyper Mars watched her arrow fly towards Theta's face, only to see her step to the side and avoid it.

Vector followed Hyper Mars by shooting bubble gum orbs from him mouth. They were to explode when making contact with anything, though his target evaded his attack just as she had with Hyper Mars's attack. He growled angrily for not landing any hits on Theta, then watched Tuxedo Mask pull out a set of roses.

When each rose was thrown, Theta caught the last one and held its thorny stem between her fingers. "This flower holds extravagant beauty, but it wouldn't serve well in this garden." Then, heartlessly, this Star Gardener tossed Tuxedo Mask's rose aside and looked back up to her foes. "You are all too late. There will still be more than enough Garden Crystals to send to Earth."

"Ha!" Mini Moon pointed a heroic finger at Theta, "We won't just give in and quit! Guys, let's take care of this soldier!"

All of the Asteroid Soldiers nodded and joined their leader to perform Pink Ladies' Freezing Kiss. Unfortunately, this special technique missed and so Super Espio found himself running up to Theta to fight her head-on.

"Shadow Galactica won't get away with this."

"Your words are powerless to me." Super Espio's enemy put her fists up while Chaos Energy formed around his.

This would be the perfect opportunity for Super Espio, who was a ninjitsu fighter, to see how all of his meditation and training with karate wouldpay off. He began to swing at his opponent, whether it be trying to strike her elbow, her knee, or one of her many vital points.

Theta analyzed Super Espio's fighting style and stayed on defense until she could kick him in the mouth and send him back a few feet.

"Hm." Super Espio felt blood come from the corner of his lip and wiped it with the back of his hand. His mind told him to look to his left, and he noticed Super Shadow and Super Knuckles having a difficult time with their challengers as well. All of these Star Gardeners were pretty strong.

With scratches and bruises, Super Knuckles tried to follow Super Shadow and get up again, but Phi sent her same freezing beam and caused him to roll out of its way. He groaned and finally got up, then twirled in a circle and performed a Spiral Upper, knocking Phi away from him and buying him some time to breathe. After exhaling, he could see different Garden Crystals begin to tear from their stems and ascend into the sky, covering the entire battlefield as snowflakes cover a frosty winter day.

"Oh no!" Super Tails looked around at all of these farmed crystals and could only stand still.

**-Song Insert ends-**

"Unbelievable!" Vector also found himself unable to move as hundreds and hundreds of these strange flowers were sending their contents to the destination chosen. This seemed to be it...

The fighting between Sonic Moon and the Star Gardeners ceased as they found themselves watching this endless amount of crystals move. This... beautiful disaster.

Every hero knew what needed to be done, but the obviousness of the situation left them stunned and unable to move. Just how Hyper Mars felt when she saw this problem earlier through her fire's vision.

"What will you all do now? Galaxia's Garden Crystals have been successfully farmed!" Theta declared proudly, "There is nothing you can do now!"

Hyper Jupiter balled up her fists and shook them with anger. Things weren't supposed to end like this.

Hearts that'd been fueled with promise and hope now were being tainted by regret and defeat. Sonic Moon had started off well with destroying this garden, but they hadn't arrived in time.

"Rouge."

Rouge looked up at Hyper Venus who held her safe and dagger-free in her arms with despair trying to shape her face. "Girly."

"I don't wanna believe that this is it... I don't think that our team made it this far just to see things end here!" Hyper Venus broke out into a sob and clenched her fists.

Painfully, Rouge moved to sit up to be next to her friend and give comfort her by putting her arm around her neck. Even this independent bat felt troubled by the look of things now.

"Mars," began Super Tails, "What do we do?"

Even with this question alone, Hyper Mars felt a headache coming on as she was putting oh so much thinking into this situation. She wished she knew what they should do. If Sailor Moon or Sonic were here, then maybe they would know. But then a light flickered in her head and reassured her that those two weren't here, so there was no time to dwell on, "What if?"

**Song Insert: Duck Tales "The Moon" [EXTENDED] **

"I'll tell ya' what we'll do!" Vector cartoonishly revealed a pack of pink bubblegum and took each stick of sugary goodness out of its wrapper, then shoved them all into his mouth and started chewing. Once this was done to a well-enough extent, the green crocodile started shooting dozens of bubblegum orbs at Garden Crystals and watched them explode. Each one was shattered into tiny shards that sprinkled the battlefield. As if heaven was pouring glitter down on them.

Not only were Hyper Venus and Rouge amazed by this accidental magnificence, but the rest of Vector's team mates were left in awe as well. Now they were motivated to finishing what they'd started.

"AMAZONESS JUNGLE ARROW!" Ceres and her sisters let out battle cries as they joined together to destroy a group of Garden Crystals, leaving the same dazzling end result that Vector had.

Mini Moon loved the way these Garden Crystals looked when they were blown up. She felt more encouraged to help her allies out and take down whatever Garden Crystals she could reach. "Uranus!"

"Huh?" In the midst of their battle, Hyper Uranus looked over to see who called her name and found Mini Moon telling her to go over to her.

"Bring out your Space Sword!"

Without giving this request much thought, Hyper Uranus summoned her weapon from subspace and was told to follow Mini Moon's lead since the pink heroine brought out her Pink Sugar Heart Rod.

As Mini Moon raised her wand above her head, Hyper Uranus felt the words and attacks that they performed come naturally.

"PINK... SUGAR... BLASTER!"

Hyper Uranus unleashed her dangerous attack while her partner followed up with their bright beam of pink hearts. When combined, they rammed straight into the Garden Crystals and completely obliterated them.

Mini Moon and her ally exchanged smiles with each other as they saw how much power was released when put together. Their other comrades saw this too and realized that more combined attacks was what it was going to take if they expected to rid the universe of Galaxia's flowers. Not if her loyal gardeners could help it though.

"Oh no you don't!" Super Knuckles began to chase after Phi who turned to go for Mini Moon.

Super Shadow found himself in the same predicament with Chi, and Super Espio blocked Theta from going any further.

"Your fight is with me!" the chameleon talked boldly.

"Very well."


	38. Chapter 38

_**-Galaxia's Lair-**_

Since Super Sonic and Hyper Moon both felt themselves being closer to Galaxia, they started looking every which in case she appeared, but clearly there were others who took the spotlight.

Super Sonic cracked a grin when Pewter Fox and Titanium Frog welcomed themselves and landed in front of him. "Well look what Galaxia dragged in! Guess she wasn't in the mood to scrap with us yet!"

"It would be better if you didn't say anything, hedgehog," Pewter Fox glared at Super Sonic, "Both of you are going down!"

"Heh!" Super Sonic put his fists up and readied himself along with Hyper Moon. "Let's do this!"

Hyper Moon revealed her Eternal Tiare and started twirling it. "MOONLIGHT... HONEYMOON... THERAPY... KISS!"

As the beams of light from this attack came at the Sailor Animamates, they barely evaded it. But why? Surely Sailor Moon hadn't became this much stronger within so little time.

"GALACTICA CRY!" Galaxia's soldiers didn't care. They sent their combined energies at their opponent with the hopes that it would end everything for her. But she didn't seem to feel the same way.

"Impossible!" Pewter Fox gasped at Hyper Moon's swift evasion. She clenched her teeth and decided that it was time to stop playing nice. "GALACTICA TSUNAMI!"

Or had she?

Hyper Moon stayed cautious as her opponent extended her hair to try and trap her with it. The pigtailed heroine flapped her wings and took to the skies to avoid what could become a tangled situation.

"Guess it's just you and me then!" Super Sonic looked back at Titanium Frog, beginning to utilize his Magic Gloves.

Titanium Frog didn't mind the idea of this one-on-one battle. "Hmph!" The green-haired soldier put her hands together to make the same energy that took away the Sailor Scouts' powers. There was the possibility that it would take this hedgehog out of this glowing form that he was in, so why not try? "DARK POWER!"

When she threw her attack, Super Sonic attained his sphere of Chaos Energy and threw it just the same way. These energy balls clashed against each other, Super Sonic's being so dominating that it swallowed Titanium Frog's and eventually reached her.

"What? No!" This Sailor Animamate's cry echoed verily in the endless dimension they were in until her voice disappeared, and the atmosphere was voiceless again.

Pewter Fox kept Hyper Moon swaying back and forth as she constantly swung her hair. This Sailor Moon girl was becoming really troublesome, and annoying.

"Need help?"

Hyper Moon thought, "Huh?" then looked to her right to see Super Sonic flying towards her side. Apparently, the Sailor Animamate he faced was taken care of.

"Let's try doing a double attack," Super Sonic smiled and winked.

"Okay!" Hyper Moon began to think of what ability to combine with her partner's in order to end the fight with this last Sailor Animamate. Then the idea came to her mind as she revealed the red Chaos Emerald and had Super Sonic help her use Chaos Control. "CHAOS... CONTROL!"

Their foe gasped at how they vanished so instantly. She looked to her left, to her right, and even behind, but did not see any signs of a girl or hedgehog. What was the meaning of this? Her enemies appeared high above her, and together began to form what would be their first shared technique.

Hyper Moon removed her Moon Tiara from her head and gracefully spun around with it in her hand.

Super Sonic saw this and bent over to curl into a ball to use Spin Dash and allow small orbs of light to form around his body. This same attack that he used against Super Knuckles when they fought on Hikawa Shrine grounds... to think that performing this same move now would remind him of a memory from so long ago.

Pewter Fox still couldn't figure out where her opponents were, until she looked up and found them already charging up to use more attacks.

"MOON... TIARA..."

The revving, machinery sound of Spin Dashing would remind anyone of a newly bought egg beater being turned on. Super Sonic portrayed this noise and gathered whatever energy the orbs had to offer. "READY..."

Her headpiece shining brightly, Hyper Moon stopped and moved her arm all the way back to throw it at her enemy with extra force. "MAGIC!"

Super Sonic saw his cue and followed through with it. "GO!"

This Sailor Animamate gawked at the amount of power that these two seemed to have. It was unlike anything she ever imagined her Master's nemeses to have, but there was no time to focus on that. In a fast manner, Pewter Fox dodged Super Sonic and Hyper Moon's tiara.

"Over here!"

Pewter Fox blinked and looked to her left to see Super Sonic still in his ball form, and that shimmering tiara with him. "You just don't know when to quit!" Unlike Titanium Frog, Pewter Fox was better at predicting her enemy's movements. This Sailor Animamate was related to foxes who were clever and swift after all. So why didn't she see what was coming from the other direction?

Before anyone could think to move, Pewter Fox felt herself receive full damage by a dark energy blast and be thrown to the floor brutally.

Both Hyper Moon and Super Sonic gasped when they in no way saw this coming. And that was when Super Sonic noticed the biggest suspect behind this ambush attack.

"Galaxia?" Neither Hyper Moon nor her hedgehog companion ever knew their nemesis to wear darker armor like what was clad on her body right now.

Weakened and steadily approaching death's door, Pewter Fox tilted her head up to see who had killed her and couldn't believe their identity herself. Galaxia's right-hand woman... killing off one of her own servants. "Sailor... Buttress!" The Sailor Animamate's body began fading away as orbs of soft yellow light. The Sailor Crystal that she'd taken from its original owner, Sailor Fox, would now leave her body and belong to her ruthless murderer.

Super Sonic looked but only once at Pewter Fox and instantly his anger flared up. "Hey! What's with killing your own team mate?"

"Pewter Fox wasn't of anymore use to me. She only scouted you out and helped prove that she couldn't do what was asked of her." Buttress held out her palm to receive her subordinate's Sailor Crystal, making it vanish and be sent elsewhere.

"No one should have the right to just hurt their friends like that!"

Buttress looked up as she heard Hyper Moon say this. She looked this Sailor Scout in the eyes and sensed her pure heart and loving-kindness. Typical traits of the Moon Princess. "This woman I killed wasn't my friend. She was merely one of my master's followers."

Super Sonic had the perfect comeback to say to this new Sailor Soldier, but their conversation was interrupted as Hyper Moon was suddenly clutched and jerked away from him. He turned around and found her to be snatched by another villainous Sailor Soldier with pink hair. "Serena!"

Hyper Moon wrestled and fought against this mysterious evil, but they'd caught her off guard. "Sonic!" Before the heroine knew it, she was pulled into a portal and transported out of the area, leaving Super Sonic to chase after her but miss the opportunity to continue following her.

He growled for not reaching her in time, but couldn't let his feelings win over him as Buttress had chosen to knock him down with a sharp elbow to his back. Wouldn't the World's Fastest Hedgehog have sensed this?

Buttress watched her foe fly towards the ground and lay injured. That elbow of hers had left a bruise in his back, one way or the other. She walked up to the hedgehog while he still hadn't got up and bent down to snatch him by the cuff of his neck.

Super Sonic's face developed scratches and one of his eyes was somewhat open as he'd crashed face-first when hitting the ground. He mentally admitted that this Sailor Scout jabbed him pretty good. When expecting her to say something or at least part her lips, she instead kept a hateful glare and spit him in the face.

Her saliva spewed from her mouth and landed above Super Sonic's nose.

"You're a disgrace to all your kind. You make me so sick with how you always wear that stupid grin on your face." Buttress tossed her challenger down to the ground like a cheap rag doll then watched him get up on his feet. "I don't know what my master sees in you."

Super Sonic used the back of his gloved hand to wipe Buttress's spit off his face. There weren't many of those who could bring this hedgehog to such fury and anger, but now this woman here was the exception. "I'm just as clueless as you are."

"Silence!" Buttress revealed her fan and swung it at Super Sonic, only to watch it miss and sense him reappear behind her.

It would've been so simple to convert into Dark Sonic and take down Buttress with no problem, but Super Sonic didn't want to have his Chaos Emerald's negative energy toy with his emotions again. A promise that he'd made to himself and thoughtfully to all of his friends. "If you ask me, Galaxia isn't good with picking followers."

Buttress took quite the offense to this remark and spun in a circle to kick Super Sonic from behind, but she missed and felt him mischeviously reappear on top of her head. The Sailor Scout growled in anger and felt him disappear once more.

His opponent looked around at the different places that he was appearing and reappearing in repetitively, until soon he stood in front of her and tried sending a Chaos Energy blast. She put up her fan and shielded herself from this, watching its sparks fly all over the place like lights from dazzling, exploding fireworks. Soon, she used her weapon to throw the Chaos Energy blast aside, wearing his patience thinner than Galaxia might have done so herself.

"Looks like you're not gonna go down so easily," Super Sonic kept trying to boast, "Well no worries!"

"You arrogant fool! You'll never defeat me until you use your true power!"

"My true power?"

"The Chaos Emeralds weren't created to serve those with hearts like yours. My master's master made them to be only for his followers. There never was supposed to be this balance of negative and positive energy, but Order allowed the universe to have the jewel that would maintain that."

"Order?"

Buttress cursed herself for talking too much and moved to make her conclusive point. "Enough! You should just know that without the Chaos Emerald's negative energy, you'll never reach your full potential! You'll always be incomplete!" Buttress raised her fan to unleash the worst of Super Sonic's wants.

"Oh yeah?" Regardless of the vow that he'd given himself, Super Sonic let Buttress's words overrule him; he felt himself transform into that demon who his loved ones were afraid of. She'd went too far with insulting and belittling him. "Well let's see what you think of me when I take your advice!"

A tiny smirk showed on Buttress's lips. Now things were getting interesting.

* * *

_**-Desert River of Oblivion-**_

Everything began as blackness. The element that was dark and unfulfilled because it didn't have light.

"Sonic...!"

This had been Hyper Moon's last exclamation before she was taken away. Now, she lifted her eyes open and wasn't sure where she was. Her eyes widened and her lips wished to let out a gasp, but bubbles appeared when she tried to breathe out. Where was she?

Realizing that her surroundings were deep and aquatic, Hyper Moon began swimming to its surface to catch her precious, much needed breath. Her head popped out of the water and this was when she learned where she actually was. "A desert?" Endless hills of sand and nothing more.

The Sailor Scout paddled over to the edge of this river and climbed out of it. Her pigtails drooped as they were so drenched. Her soaked bangs stuck to her forehead and little cascades ran down her face. She wiped them away with her arm then and to studying this humid, sandy land she was in. "What is this place? What am I doing here? Am I supposed to be here?"

Suddenly, the loud battle cry of a female could be heard.

Hyper Moon turned around to find a Sailor Scout with pink hair charging at her. Her hands were bundled with some kind of gold energy.

"GALACTICA MYOSOTIS APLESTRIS!" This Sailor Scout threw their energy at Hyper Moon and watched it hit her.

"Ah!" Hyper Moon flew backwards and landed on her side, having to deal with millions of sand beads sticking against her wet skin. She narrowed her eyes on her attacker and grew upset and confused all at once.

"You are not making it out of this desert alive." The Sailor Scout let her hands fall back to her side as she kept a vengeful glare on Hyper Moon.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because of what you have caused!" This Sailor Scout was otherwise known as a Desert River Soldier, named Sailor Lethe. "You and the Silver Crystal are what brought us trouble! We have had enough!"

Hyper Moon became perplexed by these bold accusations. She hadn't the slightest clue what Lethe was talking about, let alone what the Silver Crystal was. "Wait!" Hyper Moon raised her hands pleadingly, "I don't know anything about-"

"Sister!"

Hyper Moon's attention shifted to the new figure that welcomed themselves to this desert. They were an identical version of Lethe who's attire was pink instead of royal-blue and differentially, she carried a lighter air about herself.

Lethe watched her sister run up to her as she was shocked about her appearance as well. "Mnemosyne!"

This woman known as Mnemosyne appeared to be shocked as she faced her twin sister. "What is going on here? Were you trying to wage war with this Sailor Scout here?"

More tension arose as Mnemosyne said this.

"Well yes! Sailor Moon is our enemy! Because of her, our planets had war against each other! Master Galaxia said so."

"Then why not let Master Galaxia decide what happens to this girl?"

Lethe stood confused by her sister's words.

"Galaxia..."

This name sounded mysterious but still so familiar to Hyper Moon. "... why does that name sound familiar?" She kept thinking about this name in her mind. She had a hard trying to imagine and create who Galaxia could possibly be but random flashbacks manifested instead. Looking for a golden woman with a blue animal on her team. Being assaulted that woman's soldiers and fighting them instead. Smiling at that hedgehog when the battle was over and done with. Screaming out their name... "S-Sonic..." Hyper Moon hadn't wanted to make the wrong guess about his name. "Sonic... I remember him!"

Consecutively, the Champion of Love and Justice started remembering each of the moments she shared with this... this... hedgehog. All in what felt like hours but really was five minutes, she re-experienced the thoughts and feelings that were aroused when meeting him. Curiosity. Excitement. Anticipation. Promise. Similarity. Kindness. Then her eyes opened. Newfound seriousness. "I don't know how, but I remember who I am and why I'm here. One of my closest friends needs my help, but you guys kidnapped me and brought me here. I don't wanna fight if there's no reason to."

"Ha!" Lethe scoffed, "It is because of you that this war between us and Chaos started, but now you say you do not want anything to do with it."

"I don't."

...

Lethe lost her negative facial expression as this remark Hyper Moon said befuddled her. "What did you say?"

**Song Insert: Sailor Moon "Sad Song" [EXTENDED] **

"I don't want to keep fighting this war. It's pointless and does nothing but hurt innocent people and bring destruction. The Silver Millenium where I used to live was the most peaceful time that my friends and I ever lived in, until Chaos came and ruined it. The same thing is happening now, and if I don't prevent it, then we're all done for."

Mnemosyne and Lethe were astonished and amazed at the way this younger Sailor Scout was talking to them. They could do nothing but stay silent and keep listening.

"The people of Earth, everyone in this galaxy I'm sure, have made some bad choices. But that's no reason for them to be all destroyed. That's what Chaos wants. He isn't going to help your planets get along with each other." Hyper Moon felt so strongly about her logic that she put her hands to her chest in a pleading manner. "I'm sure there's a way that everyone can get what they want in the end... if you think that me and the Silver Crystal are the cause of all your problems, then kill me."

"What?" Mnemosyne's eyes almost popped out of her head when she heard this selfless suggestion.

Lethe couldn't move her lips. Hyper Moon left her feeling stunned, ashamed, and guilty for making any of the statements or conflict she made. In all of her life, she had never met anyone this brave or unselfish. "... so we have been wrong about you."

"Huh?" Lethe's sister turned her head to better hear what she was starting to say.

"You did not intend to start this war. You only want to end it, like me and my sister here. Chaos has played a part in ruining your life too, and Galaxia has lied to us about your true nature. She told us that you used the Silver Crystal to make our planets hate and start war with each other. Everything we struggled with was constant, day after day it was the same thing. So we felt no choice but follow Galaxia. She promised a better future for the universe, and to end the Sailor Wars."

With everything summed up by her sibling already, Mnemosyne walked up to Hyper Moon and put her hand out. "We have decided to let you pass through this desert. Go, reunite with your friend and end this war once and for all. Order has chosen you."

"Order?"

Lethe joined Mnemosyne by also approaching their new friend. "You will learn who Order is soon enough. For now, focus on taking down Galaxia."

Hyper Moon nodded then parted her lips. "What about you two?"

"We will help you by destroying Galaxia's garden. Surely by now, its Garden Crystals are being sent off to Earth."

"Oh no! I totally forgot about that!" Hyper Moon put her hands to her face and panicked, "I hope Rei and the others found it."

"We are sure they have. And if not, we will take care of it." Lethe sent Hyper Moon a tiny smile before opening a portal for her to go. "Now go, Sailor Moon."

**-Song Insert ends-**


	39. Chapter 39

_**-Mystic Ruins-**_

"Phew!" Julian wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and gazed up at the work he had just completed. "It's finally finished."

From the entrance to the garage that this inventor was in, Tails stepped in and saw the work he accomplished and smiled. "Wow, that looks great, Julian! What do you call this invention?"

"Well, I was actually going to let you think of the name."

Tails's eyebrow raised as he turned his eyes back to Julian's machine. What name he could give to this object that had a pair of legs and a seat for someone for maneuvering it wasn't all that simple. What would Tails call it? "Me?"

"This vehicle was made for you." Julian smiled at Tails in hopes that he would understand his genuine sincerity. "It's my way of saying thank you for all of the kindness and hospitality that you have all shown me."

"Really?"

"Yes!"

Tails chuckled with a wide smile on his face. "Well thanks, Julian! This is very thoughtful of you."

"It's no problem at all." Julian watched his younger, furry friend walk towards his new present and hop inside of it to check out and test its switches and levers. "Besides building this vehicle for you, I was thinking also thinking about opening up a Mobian clinic."

"A Mobian clinic?"

"Yes! A hospital that Mobians can go and be tended to when needed. I've had this idea in mind ever since Sonic introduced me to the rest of you and we all started getting along so well."

"Well I think you should try that idea. Where did you plan on opening up your Mobian clinic?"

"Not that far from this workshop."

With her other friends still inside, Cream and Cheese went to go pick flowers with Omochao tagging along; Vanilla preferred that her babies didn't go alone, so the reliable and resourceful Chao Robot was asked to be their chaperone.

"The Mystic Ruins is a very vast place. It is still explored by archeologists and visited as a historical region," Omochao opened their conversation with this summary, "From what your mother told me, Cream, this is your first time coming to this place. Am I right?"

"Yeah, it is my first time visiting here," Cream answered as she walked across an open green field, "Mr. Sonic said that flowers should be somewhere near that small house over there."

Omochao and Cheese's looked to where Cream pointed her tiny index finger, and their eyes landed on a small wooden shack that was built against the flat surface of a rocky wall, in the middle of these Amazon-like ruins where it stood out because there were no trees or rocks around it.

This sort of scene made Cream's robotic companion all the more curious. "Hmm..."

Soon enough, Cream, Cheese, and Omochao reached this shack and discovered the patch of lovely orchids growing beside its front left corner. Each petaled plant sprouted up in its own direction but all shared the same exotic looks.

Cream picked one up from its roots, put it up to her nose, and smiled when she and Cheese smelled its lovely scent. "These flowers smell so pretty!" The rabbit girl bent down again to pick more jungle flowers in hopes of making herself a bouquet.

"Chao chao!" Cheese squealed happily.

Omochao, on the other hand, put his metallic blue face against the wooden shack's window and peered through it to see what lurked inside. He spotted someone's pillow and bed cot, their calendar pinned on the wall with days crossed out until the third week of August. A fireplace with gathered firewood already inside. A single chair and handmade coat rack towards the right of the room.

A pair of high-pitched gasps suddenly arose and distracted Omochao from his viewing. Having identified the shock and fear in this gasp made him quiver as he too turned around to find Cream's flowers on the ground, and the reason why he'd heard these reactions to begin with. Like Cream, Omochao let out a frightened shout and quickly went over to hide behind Cream and Cheese. "N-no...! Y-y-you are not supposed to be here!"

"Aren't I?" Eggman Nega smiled evilly, "Don't misunderstand me. I only come to have a talk with my counterpart." Eggman Nega was amused by how much fear he'd placed in these three little ones in front of him. He put his eyes directly on Cream, who held Cheese secure in her arms. "So, little girl, I would really appreciate it if you could tell me where he is. If you do that for me, no one has to get hurt."

Cream heard these villian's statements loud and clear, but her mind was so stricken with fear that her told her body to not move. It allowed tears to come from her eyes and soft, helpless whimpers to come through her mouth, but nothing so physical or verbal to Eggman Nega's demands.

"Eggman Nega!"

At the sound of this serious call, the flow of the atmosphere was shifted. Cream's last tear rolled down her cheek. Omochao's body stopped rumbling like a game controller. He, Cream, and Cheese started feeling safer, because of this brave, loud voice they'd all heard.

"If you wish to speak with me, I'm right here!" Much thinner and weaker, Julian appeared some feet away from everyone with his pincer glasses and bald head reflecting in the afternoon sunlight. His gloved fists were balled up and his body posture was aggressive. Doctor Ovi Julian Kintobor wasn't to be taken lightly.

"Mister Julian!" Cream exclaimed surprisingly.

"Doctor!" Omochao came from behind Cream to get a better look at the person who'd came to their rescue. Something about them was different today.

"What a pleasant surprise!" Eggman Nega turned away from Cream, Cheese, and Omochao to face Julian. He put his arms behind his back and started casually walking over to the slimmer scientist. "It's the funniest thing. Me and your little friends here were just talking about you, and you've already arrived before I had to come searching for you."

"Eggman Nega, why don't you stop with this useless talk and move on to what you've really came here for?" Julian was scared of the situation that he was taking on right now.

Amy, Charmy, Bocoe, Docoe, Bokkun, Vanilla, and the Moon Cats had tried to follow after him, but found themselves watching him from behind one of the walls that held up the Station Square Train Station rails. He couldn't possibly expect them to leave him alone.

Amy ears lowered with anxiety and worry. Why had Julian requested to be alone like this? Amy could only keep wondering.

Finally, Eggman's dark half gave his response that all the ears of Julian's comrades would hear. "Should I really go into the details when you're already aware yourself? There's no time for small talk. I have a world to destroy but I can't change that balance with you still alive and breathing. With Eggman's good side still in the world, the balance will never tilt over in my favor. You're holding me back from my true potential."

Luna figured that these words of Eggman Nega's would come to the surface sooner or later. Everyone was born with the conscience and personal decision to choose right or wrong. But no one was perfect, so when they came to a crossroad to decide good or evil, they would have to first come against their opposition and deal with it to reach their path. And that's what Eggman Nega would do to fulfill his motives.

"I am." Julian stayed calm and kept his tone leveled. "I don't want to be part of your dark deeds. I never did. That accident years ago in my laboratory was the worst event in my whole entire life, but maybe it was my best. Without it, I never would've have met Sonic, Tails, or any of their other friends." Julian sent a tiny smile over to Omochao and then to Cream and Cheese. "I care for all of them. I won't let you take that away from me!"

"Are you so blind that you don't see the big picture to all of this? You can't choose your own destiny." Eggman Nega let his arms fall to his round, oval sides. "Sadly, I can't choose my destiny. The universe still recognizes us as Sonic's old arch-nemesis, Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Our connection isn't broken until one of us is cut off, so I'll make sure that you're the one to go!"

"You shouldn't take him so lightly!"

Everyone turned around to find a familiar Sailor Soldier some ways from Julian.

"Trista!" cried Amy. This pink hedgehog couldn't have been anymore glad to see this person appear and help save the day.

Pluto stood just as tall and heroic as Julian, maybe fiercer since the Garnet Rod rested between her white-gloved fingers.

"Well, if it isn't the Time Guardian!" Eggman Nega cackled, "You shouldn't be allowed to call yourself Keeper of the Space-Time Door! You failed to keep me trapped in the fourth dimension and now nothing you do will foil my plans!"

"I'm not sending you back to the fourth dimension."

Hearing this, everyone's eyes widened and their jaws hung open. Either they heard Pluto incorrectly, or she really just said that she wasn't going to send Eggman Nega to his dimensional prison.

"What?" Eggman Nega lost his grin and grew confused like his enemy's friends. Though another laugh escaped his lips. "What are you going to do then, Time Guardian?"

"Eggman will be resurrected."

Julian sighed at Pluto's response and his confidence wavered. "I always knew it would come to this." Julian gave up his will to challenge Eggman Nega and he looked around at all of his friends. They were speechless and couldn't move.

"Eggman? Nonsense! It's too late for that!" argued Eggman Nega, "With Doctor Ovi Julian Kintobor and I back in one body, I won't be able to build my empire."

"Julian and Eggman Nega back together in one body?" Amy thought fearfully, "We won't get to ever see Julian again... we can't let that happen!"

"Even if you do manage to kill him, his spirit will always come back. You can't separate what's already been put together. If anyone should be disconnected, then it's you because you weren't originally born in Eggman, but what Chaos has done is unchangeable."

"I'll decide who stays alive!" Eggman Nega formed a Chaos Spear and aimed it at Julian. He then threw it but watched Pluto get in the way and deflect it with the Garnet Rod. So Eggman Nega threw another. And another.

Since this battle was commencing, Vanilla rushed over to her children and took them to safety with Omochao behind them. They returned to their other friends and watched Eggman Nega effortlessly throw Chaos Spears at Pluto to only watch them be knocked down. Why had things had to come to this?

After blocking the last attack, Pluto raised her staff and parted her lips. "CHRONOS... TYPHOON!"

Mystic Ruins became windy as Pluto created a tornado that made its way towards her opponent. Grasses, rocks, and dirt started to be pulled into its endless wind pool.

Amy and the others were afraid that they would get caught into it, so Artemis suggested that they retreat to Tails's house.

"Amy!" Charmy yelled out as the pink hedgehog wasn't following the others, "What're you standin' around for? That tornado's gonna suck you in if you don't run away!"

"We can't leave Julian and Pluto like this!"

The high winds rushed through Amy's hair wildly, flapping each quill. Her dress kept being lifted up, so she'd had to keep her hands over it.

Charmy kept being swayed by the tornado's wind whenever he tried to be in the air, so he landed on his feet and stood by Amy. "They'll be fine!" the little bee yelled over the high winds, pulling Amy by the arm, "Now come on!"

After what felt like hours but was only a few minutes, Charmy led Amy inside their safe haven, slammed the door shut, and joined everyone in the living room.

"This is serious!" Bocoe began with a panicked tone, "Eggman Nega has returned and Sonic is in outer space! What did Miss Trista mean when she said Eggman will be resurrected?"

Luna found herself speaking with an overly serious tone. "It's just as she said. Julian and Eggman Nega will become one again, and the Eggman we all knew before will be back here."

"Julian shouldn't have to go!"

Luna, Bocoe, and their remaining friends turned to Amy when she made this selfish yet honest statement.

"He only wants to do right like he was doing before any of this Chaos nonsense started."

"I do have to agree with Amy when she makes this point." Vanilla had found her spot on Tails's couch beside her children while they all came inside. She neatly laid her hands in her lap. "Dr. Julian is the good side of Eggman. He doesn't wish to harm or robotcize any animals. He isn't bent on finding the Chaos Emeralds and using them to stop Sonic or take over the world in any way. He deserves a second chance, just like all of us had when we were reborn here." Vanilla looked around at her friends who came from Mobius and looked for agreements. Surely they all felt the same way.

"I fully agree with what you're saying, Vanilla." Artemis pinned his ocean-blue eyes to the rabbit mother's soft brown ones. "But from what Trista's said, there isn't any way that we can free Julian from his bond with Eggman Nega."

Amy's eyes shined with tears that she was holding back. "... Sonic is so happy to have learned about Julian. It's not everyday that you learn your nemesis has a good side, but Eggman... who would've expected him?" Becoming too emotional over the situation, Amy clenched her fists and her lips started wobbling. "When we all heard about Julian, we doubted him. Some of us thought Sonic was being tricked, but he trusted Julian not to be an enemy. He brought him back even if we didn't believe, and he looked for the truth. Maybe it's showed us that Eggman Nega exists, but at the same time it means Julian is real too. Even if his friends aren't always perfect, Sonic still takes a stand for them."

Luna and Artemis were left wordless and couldn't think of what to say. They saw that Amy wore the same determined expression and wasn't changing it anytime soon.

"That's what makes Sonic who he is. He stays there until the very end. So please... let's not ruin this new friendship for him if we don't have to." Amy's feelings eventually got the best of her and a tear squiggled down her cheek. She sniffled and wiped it with the back of her glove.

* * *

**_-Galaxia's Palace-_**

"All right!" With more negative Chaos Energy running through his body, Dark Sonic was ready to throw some punches. "Bring it on!"

Buttress threw her black fan aside and balled up her fists, gritting her teeth and narrowing her eyes on her opponent. "You'll get just what you deserve." Ready and focused herself, Buttress vanished instantly.

**Song Insert: Sonic Adventure 2 Battle "Live and Learn" [EXTENDED]**

Now she would finally get to have the fight she wanted.

Dark Sonic disappeared as well, and he started fighting with his fists, always vanishing and reappearing in different places. This was how quick the hedgehog and his opponent were moving. Normal eyes wouldn't be able to see that they were moving like any other two battle combatants, but their speeds were almost unreachable.

Visible. Invisible. Visible. Invisible once more.

Buttress had to admit that she was impressed with Dark Sonic's fighting capabilities. He was like black lightning right now. To stop his efforts, Buttress waited until he reappeared and threw her fist at him. It went straight for Dark Sonic's muzzled face, but was caught in his hand and held there for some time.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Dark Sonic shook his head and wagged his finger with a fanged grin, "You should've already known I would see that. Better luck next time!"

Buttress became upset and grit her teeth like a furious lioness. Her rival's grip around her palm was undoubtedly strong. He'd taken in a Chaos Emerald's negative energy by accident, but Buttress was still astonished at how much had been absorbed. She would've acted to punch him with the hedgehog other hand, but Dark Sonic swung her away like a frisbee.

He then curled into a ball and sent himself at Buttress to ram into her. His Homing Attack was a direct hit and the Sailor Soldier found herself being knocked around, over and over. By still disappearing and reappearing, Dark Sonic was the tennis racket and Buttress was the tennis ball.

"Grrrrr!" After being hit again, Buttress stopped herself in midair and floated still until she regained her composure. Her opponent was having too much of the upper hand now. Something needed to change.

Dark Sonic appeared a few feet in front of Buttress with his arms crossed. "Hey, I thought this fight was gonna be worth the wait! Heh heh! Too easy!"

...

...

Buttress folded her own arms and started to laugh. Not a giggle or small chuckle, but an actual series of laughter. Her humor was fueled and she was letting it out as she felt in her heart.

Dark Sonic didn't understand this; he frowned and clenched his fists in wonder of why these laughs were all Buttress said back.

Galaxia's right-hand woman finally relaxed her breathing and answered Dark Sonic's thoughts. "Everything makes sense now. Master Galaxia trying to make you into one of us... your heart's reaction to the Chaos Emeralds' negative energy... Chaos has chosen you!"

Dark Sonic's eyes widened at the sound of this. With his normal self seemingly coming back, he looked down at himself as if horrified with his transformation then began shaking his head. "No!" In the background, he could look up and see Buttress laughing once more. The reason to fight her started diminishing.

"It's too late to back out now! You've absorbed too much of the Chaos Emeralds' negative energy and now your in Chaos's reach!" Buttress watched how Dark Sonic put his hands to his head and started yelling in pain because her leader's boss was trying to imprison his mind. "All this time, we were on the same side!"

While no one noticed, Galaxia appeared out of their view and watched them with the most villainous of villainous smirks.

How had Chaos been able to get so close to him like this?

"My mind isn't up for keeps!" Still in the air, Dark Sonic turned and rolled around while trying to keep the darkness back. What he was experiencing was like a migraine, except the cause of this headache was trying to take ultimate control of him, and there weren't any medicines or pills that could remedy it.

"You aren't our enemy... you're our ally!" Buttress wasn't worried about continuing their little showdown at this point.

"No way!" Dark Sonic managed to speak up. Unexpectedly, this hedgehog sensed Galaxia approach him and stare at him.

Watching his pain was her gain. A soft laugh escaped her as she watched Dark Sonic lift his face up to look at her. "Hedgehog, you never cease to amaze me. I didn't expect that Chaos would choose you to be one of our comrades, but look what's happening now."

"I'm not like you!"

"Sonic!"

...

...

...

Dark Sonic turned to this voice he immediately recognized and stood speechless. "Serena...?"

They wore such a relieving... angelic smile on their face.

Dark Sonic started to feel embarrassed about them having to see him in his dark, wicked form. He was in so much distress and pain by all of this shame and exposure he was feeling, but now Hyper Moon's presence was slowly healing him. His eyes started watering up.

Aware of this, Hyper Moon put her arms out and watched Dark Sonic fly over to her to be taken into her arms. He buried his face into her chest and wept silently. What was on his mind was being read by her; they shared a conversation through their minds so their lips didn't move.

"Serena, you're okay!"

"Yeah, well only because that girl who captured me decided to let me off the hook... Sonic, look at me."

Hearing her request, Dark Sonic hesitantly showed his demonic face for his friend's pure blue eyes to see. "... I'm sorry you have to see me like this..."

Instead of giving a reply, Hyper Moon made a concerned frown and took Dark Sonic's hands into her own. His eyes were shadowy with hurt and regret. "It's okay. No one thinks bad of you."

These last words brought a faint smile to Dark Sonic's face, and one of his tears rolled down his face. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Hyper Moon gave a nod, "You keep on a smile to help us all see that we're gonna make it through this, but you don't have to worry about others seeing you fall. No one's perfect."

Dark Sonic began to think about those who look up to him. Amy. Tails. Knuckles. Cream. Charmy. Espio. Shadow. Rouge. Vector. Even some of the newer friends he'd made. He never wanted to let any of them down, and so he felt like was disappointing them whenever he became dark because that wasn't who he was. There was a motto he lived by, a reputation, and name that he'd had to keep.

"Everyone knows you don't wanna turn into this. It's a battle that we wanna help you win. You just have to always remember that and forgive yourself." Hyper Moon finally released her companion's hands and smiled yet again. "You know, Sonic... you're actually one of the greatest friends I've ever made."

"Really?" Dark Sonic asked out loud, "Aww, thanks!" Having found out how to free himself from being chosen by Chaos, Dark Sonic closed his eyes and transformed back into his brilliant golden form. "Sorry, Galaxia, but I'm no one's lackey. What you see is what you get, just a guy that loves adventure. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!"

This choice of words...

Galaxia let out an enraged growl. Her face was a deep red just like her ruby-red eyes now. "So that is what you want!" Before anyone could realize it, Galaxia magically transformed into in a darker, much stronger form. Her appearance was the same except her ringlets of hair were now auburn. Her entire outfit was a shiny black, her skin became pale like that of a vampire's, her eyes became a threatening gold, and black feathers sprouted from her back.

Buttress gasped at how much of a higher power level her leader was at. If anyone were to be attacked by Galaxia, or rather, Sailor Chaos then that would be their last battle.

Hyper Moon and Super Sonic gawked at this as well. Chaos had taken full control of Galaxia and was present now.

From out of nowhere, Sailor Chaos turned towards Buttress and opened a portal to send her away. She saw that she had scared her with her sudden actions, so the foot soldier would only get in her way.

"Master!" Buttress's voice echoed as she felt herself be thrown into the portal and it soon closed up.

Sailor Chaos then returned her eyes to her enemies and parted her lips to begin giving words. "You pathetic fools can live through the Silver Millenium again if you wish! You've already seen how it turned out for you!" The essence of all evil revealed a golden sword and gripped it in her hands. She saw her enemies begin to brace for themselves, so she flapped her wings and rushed towards them.

**-Song Insert Ends-**


	40. Chapter 40

_**-Galaxia's Garden-**_

Super Knuckles moved out the way of another Galactica Plant Blizzard.

Super Shadow knocked Phi's spear out of her hand and left her weapon-less. What would the loyal Star Gardener use for combat now? "Rrgh! Now, witness my true power!"

Before Phi knew it, she watched her challenger take off his gold bracelets and stand with more power coursing through him. A red glow began to envelop him, so much that its brightness caught the attention of everyone and shocked them.

"Shadow!" cried Super Tails.

"What does Shadow think he's doin'?" fussed Vector, "Is he tryin' to get everyone killed?"

Along with the Sailor Scouts, Tuxedo Mask turned to the Ultimate Lifeform with a gaping mouth. Never in his life had he seen anyone exert this much energy. He hadn't given it much thought, but maybe Shadow really was the ultimate lifeform that existed on earth.

Super Espio stole a glance of Super Shadow while he was still fighting Theta and became awfully worried. "Oh no! Shadow can't maintain his power when it isn't inhibited by his bracelets. If he unleashes it, his body will wear out!"

Briefly, Super Tails explained the purpose of Super Shadow's Inhibitor Rings to the Sailor Scouts and they also became panicky, beginning to call out to the artificial hedgehog, insisting that he put his Inhibitor Rings back on.

"Shadow! Don't do it!" Rouge yelled out to her best friend.

This pleading cry reached his ears better than the multiple others had. He looked back at Rouge and lowered his tone. "Forgive me." Super Shadow wasn't hesitant in unleashing his withdrawn power; he raised his arms and parted his lips...

"GALACTICA MYOSOTIS APLESTRIS!"

Two energy beams shot at the same time and each went for the targets they were specifically aimed at.

Chi barely looked over her shoulder to find this attack coming her way. She let out a womanly scream as it eliminated her.

Phi, on the other hand, lasted a bit longer because she raised up her same mirror as defense. Though this beam formed cracks in its glass surface and broke through until it made contact with her. "Master Galaxia!"

Shards from Phi's mirror fell down from where she was like raining diamonds. Each one landing on the ground individually and no longer combined to give Phi her weapon.

And so this two-on-two battle was over and settled. The heroes looked to where this miraculous beam came from and found, on the ground below, two more Sailor Soldiers.

"Who are those two?" Pallas asked out loud.

The Desert River Soldiers didn't expect any less than these suspicious looks they were recieving. They watched Super Shadow and Super Knuckles cautiously approach them and kept their calmness.

"Let me guess... more of Galaxia's Sailor Soldiers? Well we're ready for round two!" Super Knuckles said with a tough voice.

"We were under her allegiance, but not anymore," answered Lethe, "Now we want to help you all stop her, and end this war with Chaos that has lasted for far too long."

Before Shadow could put in any feedback, a streak of lightning came their way and he, Super Knuckles, and the Desert River Soldiers had to evade it. They looked to their left to see Theta a few feet away from them.

"Sailor Lethe. Sailor Mnemosyne. Traitors!"

Being distracted by this new scene, Sonic Moon didn't leave their attention on the Garden Crystals.

"After everything that's happened, you turn your allegiance over to Master Galaxia's enemies? You deserve to die!" Theta declared furiously.

"Everything your master told us was a lie!" argued Lethe, "My sister and I are not going to be part of a war that leads to nothing! If you become our enemy, then that is fine!"

Super Shadow was still confused as to how Lethe and Menmosyne showed up, but strangely enough, he began to trust them.

"Hedgehog!" Super Shadow heard Lethe say, "You and your friends go and take care of the Garden Crystals!"

Super Shadow nodded, and once all of Sonic Moon was gathered, the Sailor Scouts performed Sailor Teleport and went to the spacious skies in their sphere.

With her leader's enemies gone, Theta turned to the newest ones and let their two-on-one fight begin.

Meanwhile, Sonic Moon was in outer space again.

"Perfect." Super Shadow had asked the Sailor Soldiers to soar above Earth, below the oncoming Garden Crystals. From far away, they looked like a myriad of small lights.

Not having to hold hands anymore since they arrived at their destination, the Sailor Soldiers floated alongside their furry friends.

"Shadow. You might need these back."

Super Shadow looked down at Rouge and then at what was in her hands. "No. I'm not going to need those."

"What are you saying?" Mini Moon asked with a shaky tone.

...

"Shadow, it doesn't have to be this way. We can all help you destroy these flowers." Jupiter looked for compassion in the dark hedgehog's eyes, but found nothing but independence and defiance.

"Please don't do this, Shadow," Mercury begged sincerely.

Without a verbal response, Super Shadow flew out of the sphere and took off.

"SHA-DOW!" Rouge had reached out to take hold of the hedgehog's hand, but he moved too quick. And pain shot through her injured wing, so she fell down and landed in Hyper Venus's arms. "Shadow! Come back!"

Someone who was smarter than Super Shadow wouldn't intimidate him. Nothing that was bigger than Super Shadow wouldn't scare him. Anything that stronger than the Ultimate Life Form certainly wouldn't dominate him!

"I made a promise that I intend to keep!" With his haunting past left behind and the bright, glorious, crystallized future to look to, Super Shadow allowed a soft blue aura to glow around his body. He revealed the green Chaos Emerald and held it above his head. "Maria, this is what you wanted, right? This is my promise I made to you..."

Super Shadow's friends watched him gather his infinite power in utmost fear. He was knowingly putting his life on the line when instead, they could all team up. But he knew they were afraid.

"Here I come!" With all feelings aside and no regrets, Super Shadow charged towards the Garden Crystals. "CHAOS... CONTROL!"

Because Super Shadow had so much power in his hands, each and every Garden Crystal was instantly transmissioned out of the area by cause of the Chaos Emerald's light.

Sonic Moon found themselves covering their eyes from this blinding light. It was so intense that just one peek would probably result in someone having permanent blindness.

Super Shadow could be seen shutting his own eyes as he had been the one to use this uninhibited energy. While the Garden Crystals had vanished and the light was gone, he could feel his body begin to hurt. His scream was so loud and agonizing that the entire galaxy could've heard it. Familiar voices rang through his ears, but this end result of not wearing his bracelets was taking a huge toll on him.

The Chaos Emerald slipped from his palm, white beams came from inside of him and pointed in different directions.

Because of these beams, no one could still see, but they could hear Super Shadows cries. They wanted to leave their sphere to go out and rescue him, but the lights grew brighter and impeded them.

"Shadow!"

...

...

Brightness went away and everything was clear.

Sonic Moon looked down to the spot where Super Shadow was and didn't spot any Garden Crystals. Not a single one.

"The Garden Crystals are gone." confirmed Super Espio.

"Shadow..." Like the rest of her allies, Jupiter realized this hero's absence and began to feel despair.

He'd actually sacrificed himself.

"... he's really gone?" Vesta thought out loud.

Rouge clenched her fists and looked away as she couldn't bear to gaze at the spot where her best friend once floated.

"Tuxedo Mask... it can't be true..." Mini Moon looked for hope from her future-father's face.

"It is, Mini Moon." Tuxedo Mask felt the need to remove his mask from his face and wipe tears that were beginning to form.

Super Knuckles was enraged. "That selfish hedgehog! Trying to go and be the hero by himself! We could've helped him put a stop to this!"

Pallas felt tears streaming down her cheeks. She noticed Ceres standing in front of her, so she let out her sob and ran into her arms like a crying child goes to their sweet mother.

Pretty much everyone at this point was despaired or teary-eyed. One of their very good friends was gone now and for the reason that he shouldn't have ignored to begin with. He'd done something that maybe all of them couldn't do.

"He put his life on the line," Hyper Mercury lifted her head after shedding so many tears, "No one asked him to do that. It was selfless and willing. We cannot take that for granted."

Agreeing with this Sailor Soldier's words, Super Tails looked up with grim determination coloring his face as well as his other team mates. "After what Shadow has done just now, I would say he's more of a hero than any of us. He's the hero that we should all want to be like." Super Tails looked around at everyone to see their reactions.

"Chibi Chibi!"

"Huh?" Super Tails and the rest of Sonic Moon became very confused at the sight of this cutesy toddler floating in front of them. Why was she here, out of all people, and at climatic time such as this?

Obviously though, that same blue light was hovering beside her.

"Chibi Chibi." Mini Moon nervously moved foward so that she was just a foot away from the young girl. "How did you get out here?"

Cartoonish sweatdrops formed on everyone's heads at this change of events. Before they could think to ask Chibi Chibi anything else, her light's brightness intensified and swallowed everyone.

* * *

**_-Never Lake-_**

"Kuu!" Super Knuckles fell to the ground and opened his eyes when he regained consciousness. He began to take in his surroundings realized he was directly in front of a shining, blue lake. And immediately, his mouth opened a bit. Either the echidna's eyes were playing tricks on him, or he looked at the reflection beside his and saw an older-looking Serena. With a jeweled crown atop her head and a slender gown wrapping her body. The figure creating this watery illustration didn't match it though.

"Chibi Chibi."

Having been interrupted before he could speak, Super Knuckles looked to Rouge and watched the treasure hunter come from beside a large boulder and approach Chibi Chibi. Where were his other comrades?

A smile almost faded but still filled with relief livened up Rouge's face. As if Chibi Chibi was the person she wanted to see right now. "Hi, Chibi Chibi. You know just when to show up and help us out, don't you? Now is the perfect time to show us you and you're little light really are."

Super Knuckles mentally gasped at his rival's words.

Chibi Chibi closed her adorable eyes with a gentle smile to add for expressive decoration. The light that Rouge spoke of came to her side then created a bright flash that made her friends shield their faces away.

Just as Rouge had spoken upon, Super Knuckles looked back in front of him, and saw the woman from Chibi Chibi's reflection... and a lightish-blue hedgehog! "Who are you guys?"

"You can't tell who we are, Knuckle Head?" The hedgehog stared at Knuckles with his everlasting jade-green eyes and warm smile. He hoped that this longtime-friend would stare deep into his eyes and remember all of the exciting and adventurous years they shared together.

Super Knuckles's mind took him back to that moment in time when the Master Emerald had been returned safely to its ancient altar. Sonic and Tails were making their conclusive exit on the X-Tornado, and he could remember Sonic waving at him with that same face.

...

...

"Sonic?"

With acquired knowledge about Chibi Chibi's true identity, Rouge gawked as she apparently hadn't guessed about this hedgehog's background. "Sonic?"

"That's right!" Nazo gave an eye wink and gave a thumbs up.

"I can't believe it's actually you!" Super Knuckles reached out and playfully punched Nazo's shoulder. What are you guys doing here? We thought you were in the Sagittarius Alpha Star fighting Galaxia."

"We're Serena and Sonic from a different timeline." Cosmos's face lost its shine when she clarified this point. She, with Nazo's help, went into the details of which timeline they came from and how it became what it was.

Hearing all of it brought Super Knuckles and Rouge close to having teary eyes.

"So you've came back to this time to prevent that from happening again." Super Knuckles forced the cascade to stay welled up in his eye. "Instead of watching our leaders go down, we decided to take the fall. But our sacrifices were wasted, so you and Serena had to beat Chaos by yourselves after all."

"Yeah, that about sums it up." Nazo managed to put on a smile even if it wasn't as beaming like usual. "Knuckles... Rouge... we wanna apologize for not learning our destinies sooner. Things could've ended different if we'd known that Order put us all here."

Rouge, after shedding and wiping her own tears, stepped up to Nazo and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't go being so hard on yourself. It doesn't suit you."

"Heh heh." Nazo lightly wiped his nose and got his beaming smile back, "Thanks for the short pep talk."

"There's something that still bothers me about all of this," Super Knuckles unraveled a new topic, "How did Rouge recognize you guys?"

"It was pretty simple. I knew that this Serena had to be someone related to the Moon Kingdom, because she looked to much like this timeline's Serena and she knew what everyone needed. As for Sonic, I didn't have my assumptions down on him that well. He doesn't look that much the same as the Sonic from this timeline at first glance."

"Yeah." Super Knuckles began to walk around Nazo and closely inspect him. "Sonic, how did you get this new body anyway?"

"The Silver Crystal changed me." Nazo outstretched his arm to stare down at his shining fur. "It might do the same thing to you and the others when the world goes through the Crystal Freeze."

"Well that would be interesting," Rouge said with a tiny smile, "So, future Sonic, future Serena. What will you do now that you've carried out your tasks?"

"The only thing we can do. Hope that this future turns out better and a lot more promising than ours did." Nazo looked left to where a familiar black hedgehog was laid to rest. "We have to also make sure that this guy gets home safe too."

"Shadow!" Super Knuckles and Rouge rushed over to a now normal Shadow's side. He was still alive and softly breathing!

"Shadow really overdid it this time," Nazo's voice rung over Super Knuckles and Rouge as they'd knelt down in front of the Ultimate Lifeform, "He wasn't kidding about using all of his power, but it almost cost him." Nazo hushed himself as he watched Cosmos come and take Shadow into her arms and hold him. "Promise me something when we take you guys back home to your time: Make him keep these bracelets on!"

"No problem," Super Knuckles gave Nazo his own thumbs up.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." After showing agreement to this, Rouge couldn't help but notice Cosmos sweetly smiling at her and never looking away. "What are you smiling about?"

Cosmos put a finger to her beautifully shaped chin. "I was just thinking... maybe you and Knuckles should go out on a date."

Nazo's eyes grew huge at the sound of this personal idea.

Super Knuckles's cheeks turned red and he could look over to Rouge to see that she was just as astonished. "Serena, I don't think you wanna talk about this."

"Huh?"

Super Knuckles stole a glance from Rouge then turned away, "There's no way I would ever go out on a date, and especially with this girl."

"Oh yeah?" Rouge raised her voice and temper to the same volume. "Well I wouldn't want to be with someone who doesn't know how to properly treat a lady! After everything our team has been through, you still have your nerve to act like you're better than me, when we all know that I'm the world's greatest treasure hunter!"

"I am better than you!" Super Knuckles folded his arms and smirked with his eyes closed, "Any place, any time, you name it!"

Nazo predicted and didn't like the way things were going to be now that Cosmos had started a tempered argument. He looked up at her and wagged his finger as if to say, "Now why did you go and get these two started?"

"I was only trying to be a matchmaker," was Cosmos's playful response as she shrugged her shoulders. In moving her shoulders the way she had, Cosmos caused a soft moan to come from Shadow. "Shadow." The queen looked down at her dear friend and witnessed him slowly come to consciousness. Meanwhile...

"Are you kidding me? The only reason you had treasure to look for was because I had to keep Eggman from making off with the Master Emerald! You never would've found those shards if I hadn't thought to smash them to pieces!"

"Oh puh-lease! I could have your stupid emerald right now if I wanted to!"

"Then why don't you, CIA Agent?"

"Big deal, so you know about my career. I happen to take treasure hunting just as seriously."

"Yeah, sure." Super Knuckles shook his head and stopped their fued for now.

"Phew!" Nazo breathed out a sigh as if he had been the one participating in this agressive discussion. "Well, since you guys are done with that, let's get out of here. The last thing Shadow needs right now is to be a part of round two."

"Sonic, just take us home." Rouge didn't want to even look at Super Knuckles for however long it would take her to forgive him. Cosmos, or Serena, had always came off as a hyper, silly, exciteful sort of girl, but to suggest budding a romance between her and her rival was simply ridiculous. Like Rouge would ever choose him.

"Alright." Cosmos gave Nazo the cue to reform into that blue light and whisk everyone away in his awesome, blinding glow.


	41. Chapter 41

_**(Phew! I can't believe I did this! I've never written a 40 chapter fanfic before. If you look back at earlier chapters, so much needs to be edited, but I don't know if I see the point of doing that. All of you can pretty much see that my writing style has changed slightly and improved. I'm glad I made it this far though, and I hope you all like this story. Later!)**_

_**-Above Crossroads City-**_

"Here we are! Home sweet home!" Nazo looked down at his old home and all of its pleasant memories came flooding back to him. He would never forget about this place. "Well, guess this is the part where we all say goodbye," Nazo turned to Rouge and Knuckles, "It's been nice seeing you guys again."

"Yeah." Rouge smiled back at Nazo then turned her attention to Shadow who still laid in Cosmos's arms. "And we have to thank you guys for saving Shadow. He would've been done for sure if you guys didn't appear when you did."

"That's for sure." With his arms crossed, Super Knuckles looked all around Crossroads City and wondered where his other friends were right now. "Where did everyone else go when you transported us to that lake?"

"At the shrine or Tails's place," answered Nazo. This hedgehog looked back at Cosmos who started to hand Shadow to Rouge for the bat to hold him in her own arms. Out of all of the friends that Nazo had ever made, he would miss Shadow the most when he returned to Crystal City. This hedgehog was one of a kind, someone who he knew to always be good on the inside and a true hero at heart. There was the chance that Shadow would warp through time and fall into Nazo's timeline again, but there was no telling how long it would be until that opportunity came again.

"Goodbye, Knuckles and Rouge." Cosmos felt such a gentle smile form on her lips. "We're glad that we were able to come and help change this timeline from moving in the same direction as ours. Always remember what's important and don't forget about the people who care about you."

Both treasure hunters nodded to their friend's words and watched Nazo start to glow brighter to revert into his light form. They would miss this future Serena and future Sonic too, even if they did know their present selves within this time.

"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog." Nazo fully turned into his light form, and in a flash, teleported Cosmos and himself out of the area.

"Goodbye, Sonic and Serena." Super Knuckles muttered these words with a silent joy swelling his heart. Them, no, the whole galaxy would now be saved because of Sonic and Serena. The heroes that everyone knew would always carry out this epic deed.

"Well, we'd better get this sleepyhead somewhere for him to lay down."

Super Knuckles turned to Rouge as he heard this and mentally agreed with her. "I see Rei's shrine over there by that tall red building."

As if hurrying were necessary, Super Knuckles and Rouge started flying towards the red building as a sleeping Shadow was closer to regaining his much used energy.

* * *

_**-Mystic Ruins-**_

After waiting for however long they felt was necessary, Amy and the others reopened Tails's front door and stepped back outside. After walking down the flight of stairs that always led to Tails's workshop, they saw that Pluto's tornado had left bits of rocks and grass scattered everywhere.

"Where are they?" Charmy was worried as well as his other friends, but afraid since Eggman Nega and Pluto had been fighting each other. For all the bee knew, they could still be throwing punches with each other while Julian stood on the sidelines. "Uh..." But all of Charmy's guesses and fearful thoughts changed. "Uh oh..."

Cream gasped when she saw the reason why Charmy reacted shockingly. "Julian?"

Luna, and Artemis and their other friends remained quiet to this dramatic scene. Their dear friend, Doctor Ovi Julian Kintobor, now lay on the ground unconscious as the person he didn't care for. The person he hoped to stay clear of while its dark counterpart still existed Doctor Ivo Robotnik, Eggman.

"No!" Amy cried with her hands cupping her cheeks. Frantic, the petite hedgehog ran up to Eggman and knelt down in front of him. "Julian... can you hear me? Julian! Julian!" Amy was tempted to putting her hands on her blue hero's arch nemesis and shaking him to awaken him, but she sensed a second person appear in front of them. She looked up to find Pluto standing with a sad, sympathetic smile.

Pluto could tell that her smaller pink friend wanted to say something. But all of the shock and betrayal that Amy felt was overtaking her. She did not, for any reason, want Eggman to come back.

"Trista..." Amy finally rose to her feet and faced the Space-Time Keeper with Bokkun, Decoe, and Bocoe all appearing around her. "... do things really have to be this way? Julian can't exist now."

Out of sheer curiosity, Eggman's robots moved closer towards him to inspect and actually see if it were really him. His round, portly body seemed real enough. His orange mustache was a mischievous orange, long and thick as it usually was. Even his clothing resembled that of the Dr. Eggman that the Sonic Heroes knew for several years.

"Doctor Eggman?" Decoe couldn't help but say.

"I'm sorry, Amy. If I didn't fuse those two back together, then there would've been constant battling. One wants to exist without the other but that wasn't the way it's supposed to be," Pluto explained softly, looking at Amy as well as those around her, "It's for the best." The green-haired soldier then eyed Luna and the other friends who were behind Amy. They didn't look too relieved or pleased to see Eggman either, but she could sense that they were more understanding.

A tear ran down Cream's cheek and rolled down to the ground ever so slowly. She didn't want Eggman back either. And neither did Cheese or her mother.

Eggman could be heard moaning as if he were waking up.

"Doctor Eggman?" Bokkun thought loud loud. Together, this kid, Decoe, and Bocoe watched their creator wake up and begin rising to his feet.

"Who turned out the lights?" Eggman dusted his jacket off and noticed around him a couple of Sonic's friends and his three robots. "What? What is this?" The bald genius turned sternly to Bocoe and Decoe. "Will one of you bolt brains start telling me why we are all out here in these ruins?"

First, Decoe and Bocoe looked to each other, truthfully wishing that they could ask this question themselves. But they knew the answer and now had to make a choice. Looking around at their friends didn't seem to help any.

"I'm waiting!" Eggman barked impatiently.

Giving final glances with sad smiles to everyone in hopes of receiving their understanding, Bokkun gave Eggman the answer he wanted. "Don't you remember, Doctor Eggman? You tried to blow Sonic and his friends up with that self-destruct device, but that didn't work, so he stopped you again and you ended up here."

"Yes, that is truth, Doctor Eggman." Decoe nodded with Bokkun's statement along with Bocoe also nodding in agreement.

Well, this explanation still seemed a bit choppy, but it would have to do. Eggman glanced again at those besides his robots and behaved all the more villianous. "Hmph! Then what are we waiting for? Back to Final Egg! I've already come up with another scheme to stop that pesky hedgehog!"

"Y-yes, Doctor Eggman!" Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun all quickly hurried after their sole leader. While Eggman wasn't looking, they each waved farewell to everyone in the hopes that they wouldn't hate them for leaving like this; they enjoyed all the times they spent with Sonic Moon. They hadn't expected to see their creator return like this, but he had, and so life could play out the way that it was always designed to be.

Amy gasped in shock of this and sat there in utter speechlessness.

"This is lame!" Charmy started fussing, "As soon as Eggman's back, they up and leave after him! I thought they were on our side."

"I did too, Charmy," Artemis spoke with a calm voice to the bee, "But in the end they choose him. They were created to serve him. We cared for all of them like they were one of us, but they can't change who they are."

"You're right, Artemis." Vanilla bent down to take her beloved children in her arms and continue watching Eggman and his lackeys go deeper into the heart of the Mystic Ruins. "We will all miss them."

Omochao, for one, would verily miss these new friends he made. The fact that they were all mechanized was what they had the most in common. Now they would be against each other on opposing sides, but he would never forget their friendships.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Amy got to her feet and turned around to face her friends. "Let's go stop them!"

"Eh... maybe not so soon." Artemis looked down at Diana then up at the kitten's mother.

"Huh?" Amy blinked confusedly.

"Eggman will be stopped again in due time. For now, let's take a break from all of this and go back to the Hikawa Shrine."

"I agree with that idea. Every hero deserves a good rest," Omochao began following the Moon Cats over to the Station Square Train Station.

Vanilla followed suit, then a hesitant Charmy made up his mind, leaving Amy and Pluto.

"What about you, Trista?" Amy asked thoughtfully.

"I must return to the Space-Time Door." As if by early knowledge, Pluto revealed another Sonic plushie and gave it to Amy.

"Oh! Another Sonic plushie!" Amy squealed with girlish joy. Cartoonish hearts formed around the passionate girl as she hugged this collectible item and thanked Pluto for it. "I can put this on my window sill next to my first one."

Pluto gave a tiny smile to this response. "You are a bright girl, Amy. Keep shining for yourself and for those you love."

**Song Insert: Team Rose's Theme "Follow Me"**

"Thanks, Trista." With the result of Eggman and the world closer to being balanced, Amy bid the Soldier of Time and Space farewell then turned around to find her other friends. "Hey! Wait for me!"

* * *

_**-Galaxia's Lair-**_

**-Song Insert continues-**

Sailor Chaos's sword constantly went back and forth as she tried slaying her enemies. With the next swing, Hyper Moon evaded it and flew up higher, so Sailor Chaos gladly followed. They had been at this game of tag for quite some time now. Sailor Chaos wanted to finally put an end to these two and reign supreme. Well Super Sonic wasn't accustomed to that.

"Go!" The spiny hedgehog revved up and shot towards Sailor Chaos, almost landing a hit on her. She'd became lightning quick. "Hm." He would have to try a different strategy.

Hyper Moon flew even higher as Sailor Chaos was on her tail again. Truthfully, the blonde heroine wished that they didn't have to fight like this. Chaos was bent on evil, but Sailor Chaos wasn't of evil. She'd only been influenced by it.

Sailor Chaos attempted to thrust Hyper Moon multiple times, but kept missing. This silly, little girl was avoiding their conflict and not raising her staff to counterattack.

When Super Sonic noticed this for himself, he grew worried. "What's Serena doing? Galaxia's right there!" the gold hedgehog kept his mystical red eyes on his partner in wonder of her exact motives. He would step in if things got too out of hand.

Hyper Moon knew how not putting up a fight appeared. She was beginning to grow weary from dodging all of Sailor Chaos's strikes, but she believed there was another way. "Galaxia! Snap out of this!" Hyper Moon then gasped as her enemy's sword came too close and she'd had to put up her Eternal Tiare as a means of defense. It wasn't as powerful as Sailor Chaos's sword, so the more it was pushed against, the more Hyper Moon could feel it being cracked and split open. She bit her lip and felt a bead of sweat run down her face. This was it.

Super Sonic appeared by Hyper Moon and raised his hand.

"Sonic!"

Sailor Chaos also diverted her attention to this hedgehog, only to discover an orb of bright light originate in his hand and almost blind her. "No!" The dark Sailor Soldier backed away as this light disrupted her battle and caused her to put her arm over her eyes. Not that light again... the same one that sent her away all those millenniums ago. Not this time!

With their opponent impeded for the time being, Super Sonic glanced back at Hyper Moon. "What's with this defensive behavior?"

"I don't want to fight." Hyper Moon looked down, feeling sure that her hedgehog friend needed to hear her explanation. "Galaxia is just another Sailor Scout like me too. She tried to stop this war, but she did it alone, and that's how Chaos took control of her. I believe we can rescue her from that." This Champion of Love and Justice lifted her head and looked to Super Sonic with a serious, confident smile. "Will you help me?"

"Always!" Super Sonic gave a thumbs up. "Just give me the signal!"

Before Hyper Moon could realize it, she and Super Sonic noticed Sailor Chaos get back to her feet and regain her composure. She was highly upset!

"I will not be defeated by that light again!"

"ETERNAL... MOON... MAKE-UP!" As Hyper Moon yelled out her transformation cry, her brooch opened to reveal the jewel that practically all of her foes attempted to sought after.

Sailor Chaos spotted this treasure and narrowed her eyes. "The Silver Crystal!" Then she ascended.

Hyper Moon wouldn't back down this time. The Sailor Soldier watched her Sailor Crystal fuse with her Eternal Tiare. A blinding white light appeared as this took place, and when it faded, the Eternal Tiare was now a glittery silver wand.

Super Sonic became stunned when the light disappeared and he found Hyper Moon to be with her original hair and eye colors, and in a different outfit. He began to acknowledge that this was the Moon Princess he heard so much about. Her crescent moon earrings glistened like real moons. There laid another curved moon on her forehead. "Wow..." Hearing Galaxia approach closer broke Super Sonic from his amazed trance. "Whenever you're ready."

Hyper Moon heard Super Sonic and ever so swiftly, raised her staff to unleash her attack. "MOON... HEALING... ESCALATION!"

**-Song Insert ends-**

Shimmering stars and moons came shooting from Hyper Moon's staff and that was when Super Sonic saw the signal. He lifted his arm again and created another ball of light to combine with Moon Healing Escalation. When the hedgehog threw this ball of light, it split into millions of tinier spheres and blended in with Hyper Moon's attack to create such a spectacular light show. Even if for a second, Super Sonic felt like he was back in Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park, inside Starlight Carnival.

Sailor Chaos charged forward relentlessly, soaring past each moon, star, or light sphere that came her way. Being sent back into the depths of darkness by this light was not going to occur if she had anything to say about it. It's awesome brightness tried pushing her back, but Sailor Chaos would stay level-headed...

...

...

"Galaxia. That is what we shall name her, because she'll be the protector of this whole galaxy after the Sailor Wars come to an end. Order will direct her steps. She will hate Chaos and everything that is made up of it."

Farther back in time, before the Moon and other planets established their kingdoms, a Sailor Soldier named Sailor Galaxia was discovered. She was the most powerful of all the Sailor Soldiers because there needed to be a heroine strong enough to stop Chaos from taking over the galaxy. Many Sailor Soldiers fought bravely, gave it their all, but none were successful in beating Chaos. So Galaxia waged battle with the source of all evil for herself. Taking on this kind of a fight alone wasn't the wisest choice for her to have made though, because rather than destroy Chaos forever, Galaxia acted as a sacrifice and consumed him.

...

...

By now, when the Moon Healing Escalation technique was over and Sailor Chaos was in front of her foes, but the light beaming brilliantly from Hyper Moon's staff created a light shield, and so she was left with no choice but to break through it. Chaos's soldier grunted and growled as she kept striking the shield with her sword and coming to no plausible conclusion.

...

...

Once Galaxia was put under Chaos's control, she began going to different planets in the Solar System and destroying them, gathering loyal followers who killed Sailor Soldiers to use their Sailor Crystals. Since the Moon Princess and her guardians were sent safely to the future on the peaceful, blue earth, Galaxia was put in charge of ordering Chaos's subordinates to destroy them. Chaos hadn't expected to see the Moon Princess defeat them all, so Galaxia sent the Sailor Animamates to do her work.

...

...

Another groan escaped Sailor Chaos's lips. This barrier that Hyper Moon created wasn't being damaged in the slightest.

With her Eternal Tiare giving off a brilliant light and still shooting out moons and stars, Hyper Moon watched it begin to steadily shine brighter. A familiar gloved hand fell close to hers on the silver wand, and she looked up into the owner's eyes to see that they brimmed with gladness. He had always vowed to fight by Sailor Moon's side, so he would help her even now with this final showdown.

She was just as happy to fight with him. "Huh?" Hyper Moon became halfway distracted as she was sure she could feel fleshy hand laying on hers. The Sailor Soldier looked to her right but didn't see anyone.

Super Sonic saw his ally look back and wondered what it was that she saw. But he could also sense a new presence standing next to him. He didn't see anyone standing on his right though. It was a very strange situation. Maybe strange in the sense that these suspected presences couldn't be seen, however not in any other way; for Cosmos stood beside her younger self, gazing down at her the result of her youth and smiling on how much happiness would be in store for Hyper Moon's future. Then Nazo, the slightly taller and Silver Crystal-exposed version of Sonic, looked over at Super Sonic with so much thankfulness coloring his eyes. He was impressed with how his younger self wouldn't Spin-Dash into the same mistakes.

Returning his attention to the matter at hand as well, Super Sonic held on to Hyper Moon's staff as way of lending her his power. His alternate-future self along with Hyper Moon's also set their hands on the Eternal Tiare, giving the extra power that their past selves would need to finally put an end to Galaxia and restore her to normal.

"Serena, we can do this." Super Sonic encouraged Hyper Moon, "Order's put us up to this."

"I believe that." Hyper Moon smiled at Super Sonic's quote then looked at how Sailor Chaos struggled to break past their barrier. She wasn't getting any closer to reaching through.

Hyper Moon's attack became stronger as the Eternal Tiare shined brighter.

Sailor Chaos swung her sword again, but when that light became too bright, she felt herself begin to become enveloped in it. "No! This light is consuming me! I will not let this happen to me again!" Sailor Chaos let out an agonizing, almost horrific scream as her whole essence was being changed back into the alignment it was born with. Everything she'd done to get to this point was seeming amounting to nothing. All those Youmas, Daimons, Lemures, and each of these Monsters-of-the Days' masters... all picked to serve Chaos just to be utterly eliminated. And now she was about to join them...

With their jobs well done, Nazo and Cosmos disappeared. The Eternal Tiare's light flashed white and made the heroes cover their eyes. Then moments later, they looked in front of them and saw Galaxia now floating there with her eyes closed. Her clothes, her hair, and her skin were returned to purer, much lighter shades.

Whatever material Galaxia's crown was made out of, it shattered into pieces and fell from around her head. With nothing to keep her hair's French Rolls bundled down, they came rolling down in gorgeous sun-golden curls until reaching their length that was almost at her dainty ankles.

Hyper Moon and Super Sonic stared at Galaxia with excitement and newfound curiosity. She'd been freed from Chaos's grasp now and could be on their side again. With her hair flowing freely now, she looked so different and so much more beautiful.

**Song Insert: Super Mario Galaxy "Spacejunk Galaxy" **

"Uhh..." Galaxia's eyes flickered open and she found herself inside some sort of dark dimension. She'd woken up as if from a glorious dream. Standing before her was a young woman in a white dress and a creature who's fur was blazing a strong yellow. "Thank you, mysterious heroes for rescuing me from Chaos's clutches. The fate of the whole galaxy was placed on my shoulders and I thought I could bear it, but I was left with no choice but to take Chaos into my body so he would not cause anymore destruction. Balanced is restored, but evil will always make its way back. So farewell. I must go now and protect the galaxy."

"Wait!"

Galaxia paused from turning on her heel and faced Hyper Moon.

"You've already done enough on your own," Hyper Moon insisted with a caring tone, "What if you stayed with me and my friends on Earth? We could all fight Chaos together."

Galaxia noticed Super Sonic also trying to convince her to live with them with his friendly, toothed smile. "Your offer is tempting, but I am afraid I can't."

Hyper Moon was stunned at the sound of this.

"We weren't born with the same destinies. You are Earth's protector while I watch over the entire galaxy. Maybe our paths will cross again someday." As if without hesitation, Galaxia instantly transmitted out of the area and left her new friends there to still be processing her last words.

"Talk about being Miss Independent! She could've at least thought about our offer a little longer. Working solo is how she got into all of this mess in the first place," Super Sonic complained with irritation in his voice.

"No, it's fine." Hyper Moon stared at the spot that Galaxia stood in with a weak smile. "She doesn't have to live with us on Earth if she doesn't want to. Maybe this is how it's supposed to be. I don't remember meeting her during the Silver Millenium, and I'm sure that none of the others have."

"Hm." Super Sonic folded his arms and pondered on what was just said. Maybe Hyper Moon was right. "I see your point. Well, it was nice knowing this place. Let's go home."

Hyper Moon nodded and put her hand on her friend's shoulder as he revealed his Chaos Emerald to send them home.

* * *

**-Song Insert continues-**

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Back on Earth, in the Hikawa Shrine outside Rei's house, the Sonic Moon members who ventured to space were reunited with those who'd stayed home and they all got to share the situations that took place. Everyone was left in total shock of Julian having to be reverted back into Eggman with Eggman Nega connected obviously, especially Tails and Ami. Though they also understood why it had to be done, how it was for the best. Omega however, didn't show any reaction at all as he hurried away from the group. He would find Eggman, wherever he was, and finally prove to him that he was the Ultimate E-Series Robot. Regardless.

With Omega having made his departure Knuckles moved on to explain how he and Rouge met their leader's future selves, that they'd been Chibi Chibi and the blue light that everyone met before, and why they came back to this time. It was sad to hear what Nazo and Cosmos went through before becoming rulers over Crystal City, but again, everyone was reminded that they should be glad that all was well and in good order now.

"How long is Shadow going to be sleep?" Rei asked Rouge since the Black Blur had been placed on her bed.

"Who knows? He really went overboard this time without wearing his bracelets. He could be like this for days, maybe weeks."

"Yeah? Well if Shadow ever decides to pull another stunt like that, I'll give him a knuckle sandwich," Vector pounded his fists together.

"Hey, that's my line!" Knuckles spoke suddenly. He then became cautious as he thought he heard someone's footsteps clicking against the Hikawa Shrine staircase. Surely anyone else besides him heard it.

**-Song Insert ends-**

Sonic Moon became cautious as the footsteps came closer and closer. There was the possibility that random civilians could be coming up here to take a look around Rei's grandfather's shrine. Or something else. They weren't too sure.

At the quick notice of yellow hair odangos, Darien yelled out Serena's name and ran up to meet her and Sonic at the head of the stairs. "Serena! You guys made it back!" Darien embraced his girlfriend.

"Well of course we did." With a much arrogant smile on his face, Sonic was practically ambushed by the rest of his friends as they crowded around Serena and him exclaiming their names and hugging them with happiness**.**

"Sonic!" Amy squeezed Sonic into a hug, "We were all so worried about you and Serena."

"Nah, we were okay..." Sonic tried speaking with a clear tone as Amy was choking him. "Ames, let me go." Sonic let out a deep breath when he felt the Rosy Rascal finally let go and let him breathe.

"Sonic, you never cease to amaze us," Vesta told the hedgehog from her mind's point of view. This girl and her sister still wore their trademark colors but were dressed in more civilian type of clothes.

"Heh heh. Well just wait until I show you and your sisters all of the best places this planet has to offer."

"You mean you'll give us a tour?" Pallas asked anxiously.

"Yeah! Consider it my way of saying thanks for helping Rini."

The Amazoness Quartet all turned their eyes to Rini and smiled at her when Sonic put his words like this. Each of them was grateful to be guardians of the Crown Princess Of Earth. That's what they were born to be and they'd all found a different reason to find joy in it.

Rini was delighted herself that she had her own Sailor Team now. Sonic always knew just what to say to put smiles on people's faces. She helplessly smiled back at him now with a thought that said she was glad to have made a friend like him.

"Well your welcome, Sonic. We are just doing our jobs," replied Ceres, "Maybe we will go with you on your tour tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" asked Pallas.

"Yes. He has just came back from saving the world from mass destruction, so the least we can do is let him rest. Doesn't that sound fair?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose."

"Rei. I don't suppose that now is the perfect time to discuss the plans for the Autumn Festival," Michelle made this polite interjection.

"Yeah. Let's do that." Rei started to walk towards her house with everyone closely following her.


	42. Chapter 42

Once this meeting about the Hikawa Shrine's Autumn Festival was discussed, everyone's ideas had been fairly expressed and so Rei would share them with Grandpa Hino. When their small conversation was finished, everything would be finalized and he would have to gather all the necessary funds to start buying everything essential to his matsuri. Until then, Sonic Moon could relax. Ever since the Shadow Galactica saga, they didn't have much time to unwind and bond with each other, so to speak. So they split up into different groups and ventured to Crossroads City's different areas of their choice.

* * *

_**-Downtown Crossroads City-**_

The Chaotix Detective Agency hadn't received that many calls or clients. Business was slow, so they accompanied the Rabbit Family to check out Crossroads City's bakeries.

A bell chimed as the entrance door was pushed open and touched it. Vanilla led the way in and started looking around at the iced cakes and assorted pastries that were kept fresh and secure inside their glass containers.

"Wow, all of these sweets look so good!" said a now over excited Charmy, "I want a chocolate one!"

"Be quiet, Charmy! And don't touch the glass!" Vector fussed at the bee.

Espio stayed silent as they walked down each aisle in this bakery. Him and his partners didn't explore downtown city areas that often, so just visiting this sweet shop alone was a pleasant experience. While Espio was so distracted with his thoughts that he didn't watch where he was going and accidentally bumped into someone who was also in the fruit pies aisle. "I-I'm sorry. I should've paid better attention to where I was going. Hm?" The chameleon looked up and found a pair of carefree blue eyes staring back at him. "Serena, what brings you here?"

"Just trying to look for some sweets to buy with my allowance money," Serena gave a overdramatic sigh, "My dad said today's the last day for me to go out when I want because I start school tomorrow."

"This start of a new school year doesn't seem to please you."

"Yeah, you bet it doesn't! I loved the high school that I was going to with Ami and the others before, but since Eggman destroyed it, my parents are sending me to another one in the Roppongi District with all the snobs and rich kids. I just saved the world from being destroyed, shouldn't that count for something?"

"I'm not so sure."

Serena arched her eyebrow as she didn't quite catch what Espio was saying. "Huh?"

"You and Sonic did put your lives on the line to make sure Earth and the rest of the galaxy would be safe, but that doesn't change the fact that you're still a student and you still have to obey your parents."

Serena heaved out a defeated sigh and turned away from Espio to see what the cookie and brownie aisles held in store for her. "Ohh, you're no help at all, Espio."

Espio blinked confusedly as this odango-hair girl started walking away from him. What was it that he'd said?

Serena began feeling that she should've realized talking to Espio about education wouldn't let her hear what she wanted. The chameleon already held a steady job with the Chaotix Detective Agency, so he didn't need any schooling. He had been right though, and Sonic had already given his insight on this situation too. "Maybe the others will be at this new school."

Some distance in front of her, Serena noticed Vanilla looking down at a cinnamon apple pie and contemplating on if she should buy it or not. "Vanilla!"

"Hm?" The adult rabbit looked up and found Serena making her way over to her, Cream, and Cheese. "Serena, dear, what a pleasant surprise! What brings you here to this bakery?"

* * *

_**-Crossroads City Park-**_

Today, like any other delightful, sunny day, birds chirped and an idea to go to the park was absolutely lovely. While civilians were seen in this park doing their own activities, Knuckles and Rouge could be seen standing by Kunitachi and Ami's flower garden. Knuckles, with all honesty, would rather be on Angel Island with the Master Emerald right about now. Galaxia was defeated, so the world was back in balance, but still, the that thing he cared to do here was see his friends in this city.

"What's with that sour attitude?" Rouge asked the echidna.

"I'm not in a bad mood. Why don't you mind your own business instead of sticking your nose in someone else's?"

"Ohh, Knuckie, stop being so stubborn."

Knuckles growled and got upset as Rouge was making a teasing smirk at him.

Rather than keep the conversation going, Rouge turned around to see Tails standing in the middle of the flower field, just staring up at the sky. "Hiya, Fox Boy."

"Oh, hi, Rouge." Tails almost didn't notice the treasure hunter and turned to her when she finally approached him. "I was just looking up at the clouds."

"I can see that." Rouge set a firm hand on Tails's shoulder and looked directly into his sky-blue eyes. "We all know you miss your best pal, but he's got a favor to keep. He'll be back from that tour in no time, so don't let it worry you."

"Thanks, Rouge." Tails smiled up at the bat, knowing that she was absolutely right. Sonic would always be back.

"Guys! Come and take a look at this!"

"Huh?" Tails and Rouge looked over to Knuckles and hurried went over to him where they discovered a crystal jutting out of the ground as if it were planted and grew like this daisy beside it.

"What?" Rouge gasped in disbelief. "Serena's cat told us about this. It looks like it's already started to grow just recently."

"So the Crystal Freeze is already taking place," Knuckles stated with a serious tone, "Where's Serena? We need to tell her about this."

"Serena went to the bakery with Cream and Cheese," came Amy's surprising voice, "Is that a crystal? Where did it come from?"

"Luna will have to tell you the story." Quickly, Knuckles brushed away from her friends to leave the park and go find wherever a Crossroads City bakery was.

"Hey! Wait up!" Rouge took flight as she started after the echidna.

Well Tails certainly wouldn't sit around while the others went to give Serena this important news. So the fox followed after Rouge and Knuckles but forgot about Amy who was still with them.

"Hey! What about me?" Amy tried to keep up with the others and let out a small groan. "I hate it when they leave me behind!"

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

Shadow, who was still asleep while the rest of his friends were out and about, finally woke up and found himself on that priestess's bed. Where was she, Rouge, and the others? "Hmmm..." the Ultimate Lifeform thought back to that battle up in outer space against Galaxia and her followers. After those two pink-haired soldiers appeared and said that they would take things from there, Super Shadow took the matter of the Garden Crystals into his own hands and sacrificed himself for the good of all humanity. After that, everything turned black, he regained consciousness, and found himself here in this shrine. So again, where were his comrades?

Shadow slid Rei's door open and stepped out into the hallway where he saw that bushy-haired man, Chad, carrying a laundry basket. "You."

"Huh?" Totally surprised and overwhelmed, Chad looked at this emotionless hedgehog to see if it were him who they were speaking to. Shadow was never very sociable with anybody, and now he wanted to talk to Chad?

"Where's Rei?"

"She should still be outside feeding her pet crows."

Just like Chad explained to Shadow, Rei was by the bird bath, so Shadow went over to her when the priestess was finished giving Phobos and Deimos their bird seeds.

"You're finally awake."

Phobos and Deimos's cawing brought joy to Rei's face, seemingly anyway; they had been gone ever since the death of Sailor Lead Crow and now were back to keep her good company.

"How long was I asleep?" Shadow asked Rei this and was told that he'd been resting ever since they returned from Sagittarius Alpha Star, and on a side note, Sonic's alternate future self had an important message that he left about Shadow keeping on his Inhibitor Rings. "Hmph!" This was the least of Shadow's concerns. "No one tells me what to do." Suddenly though, when the black hedgehog looked away from Rei and shifted his eyes to the Hikawa Shrine's cherry trees, he noticed something unusual about them.

Rei gasped when she also took notice of it. Actual pieces of pure crystal were growing on those different branches. They were so tiny but anyone would still be able to see the way they sparkled. "No..." Quickly, Rei contacted Serena through her watch communicator and told her to come back here to the shrine immediately.

* * *

_**-Green Hill Zone-**_

"Are you girls all ready to go?" Sonic faced the Sailor Quartet as they stood on a hill along the outside borders of Green Hill Zone. Returning here and overlooking this place caused treasured memories to flood back inside Sonic's mind all at once. These green slopes and tracked loops was where it all began, and he was sure that he would always come back to dash through them on later adventures.

In their same civilian clothing, the Sailor Quartet nodded to Sonic's question and at once followed the little hedgehog as he led them through the start of this incredible day...

* * *

_**-Lava Shelter-**_

An E-Series Robot battled his way through subordinate robots, ventured his way through tough obstacles and steep ledges, until he reached Lava Shelter and came face-to-face with his worst enemy yet. "This is Eggman's base! I will destroy him and prove that I am the strongest!"

Some time ago, back in the Mystic Ruins, this worst enemy regained consciousness and quickly retreated back to what was left of Final Egg. They couldn't believe what they were thinking when they activated that self-destruct device while still aboard this ship. It would take them forever to repair it, so they ordered their robots to do the task while he made his new temporary base in Lava Shelter. And now, after what felt like an eternity, he was standing face-to-face with his worst creation yet. "Do you think you can beat me? This is nonsense! Get ready to be schooled!"

Inside his new machine, the Egg Breaker, Eggman raised its spiked fist then charged towards Omega to smash him to pieces. He would be better off in the junkyard.

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine-**_

"Phew!" Serena stopped at the head of the Hikawa Shrine staircase as she had to catch her breath. From how Rei sounded over their call, Serena grew worried and made sure to call everyone and tell them to also come here. But not Sonic, because he was away in Green Hill Zone.

"Hello!" Grandpa Hino greeted Serena cheerfully, now wearing his prescription reading glasses, "Are you here to see Rei?"

Serena answered yes and added that Rei also invited the rest of their friends here.

"Alright. Well she should be out here any minute now."

After Grandpa Hino walked away from his grand-daughter's best friend, Serena heard more footsteps from behind her and turned around to find Darien and the rest of Sonic Moon. "Darien!"

"Serena. What's the reason that you called us here?"

"Sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds, but there's something important that we need to say." Before Rouge could announce what she, Knuckles, and Tails had to say, Rei arrived and stole everyone's attention with Shadow beside her.

"Good, you guys are all here now. We need to hold another meeting."

...

...

...

"What? It's started appearing already? But I thought the world wasn't going through the Crystal Freeze for another six years!" Serena said aloud.

"Well, maybe it's a gradual process." Standing next to Serena in Sonic Moon's usual circle outside Rei's house, Darien looked to Rei again. "Rini did say that we would have time to prepare for this."

"We wanted to tell you guys that we noticed crystal forming inside Ami's park earlier," came in Tails's voice.

"I'm not sure if the boys an' I were ever told about this Crystal Freeze business. What is it?" Vector asked Rei. From what she told the crocodile, the Crystal Freeze was an ice age that would last 1,000 years. No one knew why. At the end of it, Serena and Darien would become queen and king over all the earth. Serena, as Neo-Queen Serenity, would melt the ice away with the power of the Silver Crystal and from that point on, everyone would live in the New Silver Millenium where Tokyo was made entirely out of crystal.

"That's sounds so awesome! Will there be scary aliens and giant spaceships and flying cars?" Charmy interjected with excitement.

"It's not that kind of a future, Charmy," Vector snapped at the annoying bee.

"How will Sonic and the rest of us Mobians fit into this new millenium?" Espio queried Rei.

"It shouldn't be that much different from now. You'll all live in harmony with us just like you are in the present."

Knuckles for one, had a feeling that he couldn't seem to shake off. He might've heard CereCere's words back in Galaxia's Palace that were about him incorrectly, but he knew that they were highly important. Just what were they?

"Knuckles?"

"Huh?" The echidna came out of his thoughts and looked over to Lita.

"You look like you wanna say something."

"Nah, I was just thinking." Whatever CereCere said would be revealed in due time, so Knuckles wouldn't worry about it.

"I wonder if I'll ever be married to Sonic in the 30th Century." Amy spoke this thought out loud and didn't bother to wonder how the others might react to it.

"Uhhh... only time will tell, right Amara and Michelle?" Serena asked these two older girls.

"Yes, you're right, Serena." Michelle thought it was oh so adorable how Amy fancied Sonic. "I think it would be cute if those two did marry." Michelle wasn't the Keeper of the Space-Time Door, but she still could say that Order had good things in store for the hedgehogs. Bright futures were ahead of everyone in Sonic Moon.

* * *

_**-Green Hill Zone-**_

A week later, when the sun came to a set and shadows were cast along the walls, Omega stopped walking through the grass and turned back around to face the direction he came from. "It doesn't make any sense. Why can't I defeat Eggman?" All of the scratches and chipped areas all over Omega's body should've told him why. "Is it because he is my creator, so he knows my advantages and disadvantages?"

"Omega?"

Hearing someone say his name, Omega returning to facing the front and noticed Sonic walking towards him. "Sonic? You also came here to fight Eggman?"

"Nah, not today." Sonic went into the details of how he took the Sailor Quartet to the part of the world where he had all his adventures. And now that the tour was over and they met Rini back in Crystal Tokyo, Sonic would continue down memory lane by visiting Station Square. "Do you wanna tag along with me, Omega?"

"Negative. I am going back to where I belong."

"The Mystic Ruins? Well okay." Sonic bid the E-Series Robot farewell and started to walk away, but a voice in his head gently told him to wait and go back to them. "Wait a sec. There's something I gotta tell you. There's no need to prove yourself. You've already shown the rest of us that you're the Ultimate E-Series Robot. If Eggman doesn't wanna accept that, then it's his loss."

"... you, and the rest of our team, really believe that I am the Ultimate E-Series Robot?"

"Definitely! There's been lots of times where you proved yourself. What robot stands up for what's right and leaves their creator who doesn't appreciate them? That takes courage, Omega." Sonic could look into Omega's robot red eyes and see how speechless his words left him. If Omega had human eyes, then tears would probably spill from out of them. "Don't let it get to you. We're all here for you."

Saying what needed to be said, Sonic smiled and finally started heading towards his picked destination.

* * *

_**-Station Square-**_

Amy let out a cute sigh as it was close to the evening and she barely walked out of the Station Square Train Station. It'd been a long day and she was ready to go home and make herself a nice supper. It was nice having the 16-year old Rini around, but she'd had to return back to the future. In the past, living with Mina and Artemis was also pretty good, but nothing was ever the same as being in the comfort of her own home.

So much was on her mind though, like the mysteries of the Crystal Freeze, how everyone's lives would turn out, and if she and Sonic would ever be... together as...

Sonic?

All of a sudden, Amy didn't have anymore time to ponder as she noticed the hedgehog of her dreams fly down towards the pavement in his glorious super form. Her boots seemed to become glued to the ground and her lips didn't move.

Super Sonic landed on the ground and reverted back to his original form. It'd been a long time since he came back to this place. Station Square had so many areas for him to go see, but as Sonic took the first step...

Amy?

She never spoke a word but just stood there, wide-eyed, looking pinkish and innocent like always. He smiled and waved hi while going up to her, but she startled him by slipping on a frown. What had he done wrong?

"It's about time you came back here!" For chasing after Sonic so long, Amy knew how adventurous the Blue Blur could be and there was the possibility that he might stay gone for long periods of time like this. "Not even Tails expected you to be gone this long. Everyone missed you because it's just not the same when you're gone." Amy's eyes started watering. "While you were gone, I had trouble deciding whether or not I should wait for you until I'm old and wrinkled. And that was when I got off the train and came out here."

Sonic smiled at this loyal and faithful friend. It warmed his heart to hear Amy express her cares and concerns.

"Promise me that you won't leave me like that again, Sonic."

"Don't you worry, Amy, I never will."

A smile came to Amy's lips as her tears dried away. "After this world is melted from the Crystal Freeze, I hope that everyone gets what they want, including you."

"What I want? I just want to enjoy life with all of you and keep the world safe. What about you, Ames?"

What did Amy want? There was all this time for her to think and think on it. "What I want is..." She couldn't take her eyes away from that dreamy smile. "... I want the same things that you want. If you're happy then I'm happy... I always wanna be here for you." Tears finally spilt from her eyes and ran down her pretty face. In her world, Sonic was gold. She only wanted to protect him.

* * *

_**-Serena's House-**_

That following morning, news reporters started speaking on how they noticed different fragments of crystal come about. Serena's dad read an article about it in the newspaper that same morning and mentioned it to his wife while they were eating breakfast. "Honey. What do you think of all this talk about crystals showing up in different parts of the world?"

"I'm not sure, dear." Ikkuko finished packing Serena's lunch and handed it to her when she came from upstairs before heading out the front door. "How do you think Serena's doing at that new school we've sent her to?"

"Ohh, I'm sure it's going fine. I believe her two friends Mina and Lita were also transferred there."

"Hmm, is that so?"

* * *

_**-Hikawa Shrine Autumn Festival-**_

**Song Insert: Let's Listen: Sonic 2 - Ending Theme (Extended)**

"This is like, so awesome! How did you and your grandfather put all of this together, Rei?" Amy asked Rei as they stood in what had become the official Hikawa Shrine Matsuri.

"Making a lot of phone calls and us having all those meetings we had." As it was night time, Rei looked around at all the people with their social chatter and at the pleasant festivities going on. Besides the games, music, parade floats, and delicious Autumn food provided by Lita and Vanilla, everyone got to wear their own kimonos and the girls' kimonos were flowery and gorgeous.

"Where are Serena, Mina, Amy, and Lita? There missing this."

"They should still be on their way from school," Rei answered Amy's question. And as soon as the priestess said this, she spotted Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles pacing down the walkway that crossed the one she and Amy were on. Amy spotted this and started after the boys like how a star shoots across the sky; Rei figured this would happen."Hey, Serena! You guys all made it sooner than we thought. Everyone else is already here, so just look around and enjoy yourselves."

"Rei?" Chad, dressed in a much finer and classier kimono for this special occasion, found the courage to finally walk up to Rei. She'd been so busy with greeting people and helping her grandpa set out the food for this Autumn Festival. So now Chad could say what he'd meant to say before all of that took place. "You... you look beautiful in that kimono."

"Oh." Rei didn't expect Chad to say such a compliment like this. It made her feel awkward as she was a young woman who was independent and had a bad habit of seeing the worst in men. Still, she appreciated him for overcoming his fears and saying it. She broke this awkward silence by asking if had he checked out any of this matsuri's merchandise booths and walking him over to one.

Charmy made adorable, childish laughter as he, Vector, and Espio were also here at this matsuri. The most spectacular and exciting event they'd ever seen. Vector noticed a familiar rabbit helping Cream, Cheese, and Lita hand out food to people who were standing in line. He felt the urge to go over and talk to her, so he told his pals that they should go try this festival's food.

"Hi, Sonic! What do you think of my kimono?" Amy asked Sonic happily.

"Uhhh..." before an entranced Sonic could answer that, he and the others realized that someone had started shooting fireworks. They shot up towards the starry blue sky and dazzled like absolute diamonds. "Hey guys! Round up everyone and tell them to meet us on Rei's roof."

"Wait, Sonic!" Tails called after his best friend. Sonic was always out of earshot when he ran off. Nonetheless, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy each asked the rest of Sonic Moon to meet him and borrow Grandpa Hino's ladder to join him on top of Rei's roof. All except for Omega, Trista, Rini, Diana, and the Sailor Quartet were present, but they would always be remembered and have a place in Sonic Moon.

"Now we can all watch the fireworks." Sonic looked around at everyone and noticed Shadow standing some feet away by himself.

The black hedgehog looked up for just a second and noticed Sonic sending a friendly smile, along with some of their other friends. "Hmph." Unfolding his arms, Shadow gave in and chose to stand by Rouge, Amara, and Michelle.

"C'mon, Chad. You and Rei's grandfather are welcome up here." Darien watched Chad come up the ladder and take a spot beside him. Grandpa Hino, however, with his elderly body, couldn't come up the same way.

"Huh?" He would've still tried to reach forward and start climbing, but he saw Tails come down and carry him up to the roof with his helicopter-like tails. "Thank you, little fox!"

"No problem." Tails smiled at Grandpa Hino then looked back up at the firework show. It was all so beautiful and a great reason for people to come together. Sonic Moon deserved this; they'd each fought, in one way or another, for this serenity and peace. Chaos was sure to come crawling back from the dark, fiery pits were it was born, but these heroes would be ready when it decided to come back. Here in the present and in the new Silver Millenium.

Fireworks continued going off and only their crackles and booms were heard since Crossroad City hushed themselves to enjoy these cherishing moments. It hadn't been only those attending the Hikawa Shrine Matsuri who could see this firework show, but from their cars, front porches, or windowsills.

"Trista?" Amy's eyes couldn't have been playing tricks on her. There to her left, she saw the Space-Time Guardian coming up the ladder to join her and the rest of the group. Everyone was glad to see her again.

"Will you be able to stay longer to watch the fireworks with us, Miss Trista?" An oh so cute Cream asked Trista with Cheese beside her. Their answer was yes!

When it came down to it, Sonic was happy to have all of his friends and enjoy the rest of this night under these fireworks with them. This was what he always fought for. "We did it, Serena." The Fastest Thing Alive looked over to Serena as he spoke to her through telepathy. "The fighting's over and we can all kick back and chillax."

"Well we couldn't have made this happen without the Sonic Heroes." The Champion of Love and Justice sweetly smiled back at Sonic.

And so, these two worlds really had come together to form one large, inspirational, admirable, beautiful... hopeful... everlasting... mirror.

**-Song Insert Ends-**


	43. Chapter 43

_**(I'm so happy about this! I've finally finished this story and I feel like its ending is so pleasant and sweet. Thank you everyone who stayed and kept on reading to see how it would turn out. Sonic Moon rules!)**_

_**-Epilouge-**_

**Song Insert: Sonic 3 Music "Ending" (Extended)**

As Tokyo was steadily being covered in more crystal, Sonic Moon made accomplishments that would lead them to the fated 30th Century. Sometime after the Hikawa Shrine matsuri, on their anniversary, Darien gained Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino's approvals and proposed to their daughter and asked her to be his lawfully wedded wife. Serena graduated from high school and made her dad proud by getting a waitress job at the Crown Fruit Parlor; It's pay was minimum, but anything was better than flipping hamburgers.

By seeing the way Darien proposed to Serena, Artemis realized that he and Luna should switch to their human forms and also come together in holy matrimony, for Diana's sake. So what did these two couples do? They had a double wedding inside a chapel in the lovely part of Station Square. Their friends were so happy for them; the Crystal Freeze was fixing to happen soon and their wedded friends were establishing everlasting promises before that came to pass.

Amy could imagine her and Sonic standing in front of that wedding pastor, exchanging their vows, but today was Serena and Luna's day. Her marriage with Sonic would happen someday.

Vanilla kept her promise to Bokkun, Decoe, and Bocoe about taking them to an amusement park. Eggman allowed the three robots to leave Lava Shelter but didn't know where they planned on going. In the end, his lackeys had the most wonderful time with the Rabbit Family and apologized for going back to Eggman so deliberately. They were forgiven easily though, because it'd been just as Artemis said when they were all back in Mystic Ruins.

* * *

The next four years came by faster than even Sonic and Shadow expected. According to prophecy, Serena turned 22 years old and the Earth became frozen. Its rotation was stopped for the long but necessary 1,000 years to go by.

...

...

...

After all that time, a silver light shone on the face of the earth. It shined so brightly that the Crystal Freeze's ice started melting away, and so the New Silver Millenium was finally here.

"Sonic!" Having been one of the first to be thawed by the Silver Crystal, Amy ran down the mystical crystal sidewalks in search of her Sonic. She, and most likely everyone here in Crystal Tokyo, had aged slightly and would live much extended lives because of exposure from the Silver Crystal, so Amy wanted to see what'd become of her blue hero.

"Amy?"

The called pink hedgehog looked up and found... Sonic! But he wasn't exactly Sonic anymore, but a hedgehog who was also exposed to the Silver Crystal and took on Nazo's form. "Sonic..." Amy stared at him with utter awe, "You've changed."

"Well haven't all of us changed?" Sonic smiled, "Why don't we go and see where the others are?"

"Okay!" Amy nodded and started walking along this now and always Crystal Sonic. When these hedgehogs tracked down the rest of their team, they were so delighted with how each friend was leading their lives. Lita, who was and would always be one of Neo-Queen Serenity's guardians, opened up her flower shop and bakery with the Rabbit Family that was just across the way from the Chaotix Detective Agency.

Remembering Julian and the wonderful idea that this good-hearted scientist had, Ami became a doctor and vetenarian and opened up a Mobian Hospital with Super Tails and Omochao as her right-hand assistants.

Omega still guarded the Mystic Ruins and went on spy missions for GUN when they called him along with Rouge, who became known for doing missions more than often than going on treasure hunts. Super Shadow, to everyone's surprise, retired from GUN and retreated to the ARK where he became its guardian and watched over the blue planet that Maria loved so much.

On Angel Island, the Master Emerald Altar was reformed to its original state where the Chaos Emeralds were each placed around the Master Emerld and all gave off brilliant glows. With all the strength that Super Knuckles had, he'd protected the Master Emerald to the best of his ability and was now being rewarded for it; just as CereCere said long ago, he was made ruler over his ancient tribe's floating island. Knuckles the Echidna, Lord of Angel Island and Keeper of the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds.

Super Knuckles wasn't expecting Darien, now King Endymion, to reward him with any titles or responsibilities like this, but he'd earned it. Like how the President of Station Square was now President of Crystal Tokyo and led its people under King Endymion's command. King Endymion became the King of the Earth after all.

He and Neo-Queen Serenity watched Crystal Tokyo flourish and expand from within the Crystal Palace, along with Super Shadow in the ARK, Super Knuckles on Angel Island, and Crystal Sonic, from where ever he was. Crystal Sonic still rolled around at the speed of sound and explored the world while keeping it safe from Eggman. This evil scientist hadn't decided to show up just yet, but his arch-nemesis would always be ready.

"Sonic?"

Crystal Sonic turned around at the sound of this cute-high-pitched voice and found the original, younger Rini walking across the grassy fields to approach him. "Hey, Rini. What's up?"

"Now that it's the 30th Century, does that mean you're going to marry Auntie Amy?"

Crystal Sonic almost felt his heart stop at the sound of this delusional dream of Amy's. Marriage was the last thing on his mind! "No way! Give me a break! ... seriously, how can that girl be so confident about things?"

"I always thought she learned how to be that way from you." Rini innocently stared at Crystal Sonic until he made a defeated sigh.

"You know, Rini, you might be right about that."

"Nevermind that. My mother sent me here to find you because she wants you to visit her and my father at their palace."

"Really?" Crystal Sonic did some quick arm stretches and hopped a few times as if excited about a foot race. "Well let's not keep them waiting!" And just like that, he picked up Rini and took off in a super burst of speed. Another day... another moment that would bring him and his friends closer to more exciting, memorable, fun-filled, adventures...

_THE END_

**-Song Insert Ends-**


End file.
